The Harmonica High Bet
by RainbowsNSmiles5
Summary: Twins, Angela and Molly, move to Castanet Island to finish high school. But what happens when 3 boys from their class make a bet involving them? The bet? To see who can get one of the girls to kiss them first! Who are the boys? You'll have to find out!
1. Moving in

**** Hooray! New story! I started playing Animal Parade during Thanksgiving and fell in love with it! In fact, I'm think going to play some more of it tonight! :)  
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading the first chapter of The Harmonica High Bet! **

**And**** by the way...I DO NOT OWN HARVEST MOON! ****

**(12/21/11) UPDATE: ****I have corrected typo and grammar mistakes on all of the chapters of this story. Hopefully I didn't miss anything! Enjoy my improved grammar! :D**

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Chapter 1

"I can't believe they would give minors a freakin' house!" Molly jumped up and down as her twin sister, Angela, giggled at her sister's enthusiasm. They were in their new home, unpacking their belongings.

"Let alone a farm!" Angela marveled along with Molly. "I wonder if the people here are just as friendly as the mayor was?"

Molly snorted. "Friendly? More like creepy! He wouldn't stop talking about his son and how 'handsome' and 'adorable' he is. I bet his son is as creepy and weird looking as him!"

Angela sighed.

Molly put her hands up in defense mode. "Sorry, but it's kinda hard to express my opinions here when you hate name-calling!"

Angela smiled and shook her head. She never did understand how she and her sister got along while being so different.

Even though Molly and Angela were, in fact, fraternal twins, they still looked close to identical. The only huge difference in their appearances was their hairstyle. Angela liked her brown hair cut to the tip of her shoulders with bangs just long enough to cover her forehead, every strand straight as a nail. Molly liked to keep her brown hair just a little longer with longer bangs that could easily be pushed to the side of her face. Though she liked the feel of her hair straightened, she styled it so that her hair would have much more volume.

"Just try not to judge," Angela said as she started to hang her clothes neatly in her new closet. "Besides, you've never even met Hamilton's son."

Molly started putting her clothes away also, but not quite how her twin did. She grabbed a hand full of clothes and shoved said handful in her wooden dresser. Once she stuffed all of her clothes in the dresser, she pushed as hard as she could to try close it. She soon closed it and did a silent victory dance.

"Don't have to! Like father like son," Molly laughed and went on to apply posters onto her side of their bedroom. She groaned at the thought of having to share a room, but then tried to look on the bright side, as she usually did with everything.

_"At least I get to hang out with Angela a little more now," _Molly thought optimistically.

The girls unpacked all of their belongings, and after a slow hour, they finished. They both felt a feeling of accomplishment.

"Hey, do you want to take a look at the barn now?" Molly asked Angela, knowing what the answer would be.

Angela's eyes lit up and she nodded.

They walked outside and into the barn, which was only about ten yards away from their front door. Molly pinched her nose because of the horrible smell, but Angela looked at every inch of the barn with excitement.

Angela had always loved animals. She had wanted a pet ever since she was a little girl, but their parents wouldn't allow it. She wasn't even given a reason to why she couldn't have one, which made her even more sad, but now that she didn't live with her parents anymore, she could literally have a barn full of animals; plus, she could have a fresh start here. Angela and Molly were still seventeen years old, so they would have to finish high school at Harmonica High School. Both were extremely excited to met everyone and make new friends.

Both of the sisters did however miss their parents. They only moved to Castanet Island because their parents thought it would be good for them. Molly thought they were being so selfless, but Angela didn't buy it. Though she wish she didn't believe it, she was convinced that the only reason why their parents sent them away to Castanet to finish high school was because they didn't want them. Angela might not have believed this if their parents moved to Castanet Island with them. But they didn't. Angela had talked to Molly about this, but Molly denied the idea that their parents abandoned them and tried her best to push it out of Angela's head, but the idea would still linger after each of Molly's attempts.

"It smells bad in here!" Molly whined.

Angela laughed and looked out a small window. "It's getting dark. Want to get ready for bed? We have to get up early in the morning anyway to sign in."

"Okay."

They did just that and once they were in their fuzzy pajamas, they laid down in their beds and talked until they fell asleep.

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**** Don't worry! All of the chapters aren't going to be this short. This was just an introduction to the story.  
I really hope you like it so far and don't be afraid to review. I accept all reviews, especially if it contains helpful criticism or story ideas!  
I would really love to hear what you think so far! :)** ******


	2. Arguments

**** Thank you for the reviews! They help me write faster so keep sending them! :)**  
**So, guess what! You get to met the three starring bachelors in this chapter! These are my favorite boys**.  
**I hope you like this chapter! ****

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Chapter 2

Castanet Island didn't have new arrivals very often. When new arrivals did come, everyone would flood the newcomers with attention, and some would even give them expensive welcoming gifts. Obviously when the news about Angela and Molly's arrival spread, everyone became excited and eager to met the twins. Of course, there were very few exceptions that couldn't care less or didn't want anything to do with newcomers, believing they would poison they're nice community.

At Harmonica town's high school, the talk about the new girls was everywhere. There was no escaping it.

A blue-haired boy named Luke was one of the most ecstatic students at Harmonica High School. He couldn't contain his excitement, for he considered wanting the bell to ring for class to start just so he could see who the new girls were. But until then, he waited impatiently and talked to the other two boys he sat with in his first period class, Chase and Gill.

"Argh! Can the clock go any slower?" Luke complained as he stared up at the round clock on the wall.

"Since when are you ever excited about school?" Gill asked without taking his eyes away from the thick book he was reading.

"I'm not excited about school! I just want to see the new kids!"

Chase raised his head from his folded arms drowsily. "Oh, yeah. They're coming today, huh? Aren't both of them going to be in this class?" Chase asked as he rubbed his eyes, hoping it would wake him up.

"Yeah, and they need to hurry up and get in here!" Luke shouted. Two girls from the other side of the classroom, Kathy and Renee, turned away from their conversation to give the three weird looks.

"Could you be any more louder?" Gill snapped. He had always been easily annoyed, especially when it came to Luke. He shut his book and placed it back in his book bag carefully.

"Well, excuse me for being excited to met new people Mr. I-wear-a-sweater-vest!"

Chase sighed. _Great. Another fight between those two..._

"I dress professionally. You're the one who is wearing the rags!" Gill argued.

They weren't exactly rags. Luke wore a white shirt that seemed to have had its sleeves ripped out and a dark red vest. He also had on a pair of ripped jeans, black climbing boots, and shark tooth necklace that he wore every day.

"Hey! My clothes show off my beastly muscles!" Luke jumped on the table and shoved his arm in Gill's face and flexed. "Look at my bicep, man! I bet you have nothing under that sweater vest!" Luke said proudly.

Gill rolled his eyes and pushed Luke off the table. Luke's face met the hardwood floor and turned red from anger while Chase laughed. Gill looked down at Luke and smirked.

"Hey, Luke. How'd you get on the ground?" he asked with sarcasm in his voice. Luke growled at him.

The bell then rang, and everyone in the classroom slowly drifted to their assigned seats. Luke and Gill shared glares as Luke picked himself off the floor and took his seat. Chase ignored both of them. They fought like this at least three times a week, so he just learned to not be too concerned. Usually he would only jump in to break the fight up if he sensed that it would turn physical or if it looked like they would never make up.

Hayden, their history teacher and also Kathy's father, walked into the classroom while Angela and Molly followed.

Luke's eyes widened, and his heartbeat increased once he saw Angela. Chase and Gill took notice of Luke's facial expression. Chase snickered and Gill rolled his eyes.

"All right, everybody," Hayden said loudly to get the class' full attention. "This is Angela and Molly. They're new here, so make them feel at home." He turned to the twins and pointed to an empty table with four chairs. "You girls can sit over there."

They both nodded and made their way to the table as the other kids whispered.

"What do you think they're saying about us?" Molly asked Angela quietly.

"I don't know, but I'm really nervous right now…"

Molly patted Angela's back. "Don't be nervous. Everyone here will love you!" she said, smiling brightly.

Angela smiled back, feeling a little better. "Thanks."

She looked around the room to get a good look at her new classmates. She looked and looked until she caught a pair of gold-eyed Luke staring at her. Her face got warm, and she looked away in embarrassment. Luke became alarmed when she did and stared down at his desk.

_Why did I keep looking at her? I'm so stupid! Now she probably thinks I'm a creeper! _Luke scolded himself.

The rest of the class period was pure torture for Luke. He tried as hard as he could to not look behind him at Angela. He would pull the hair from under his flame bandana just to give him something else to think about.

Chase and Luke walked to their next class together - science. Gill had math instead, so he walked to the other side of the school alone. Luke didn't say a word to Chase as they walked, which troubled Chase. Luke was never quiet.

"Hey, what was up with you in there?" Chase asked Luke.

He paused. "I, umm, was distracted..." Luke said lamely.

"...You were pulling your hair."

Luke groaned. "Okay! I'll tell you only because you're one of my best friends, but you have to promise you don't tell anyone, especially Gill!"

"Oh, this has to be good! Go ahead and tell me."

"IlikeAngela!" Luke spat out.

"Wait, slow down. What did you say?"

The blue-haired boy took a deep breath and said, "I like Angela," saying it as slow as he could so that Chase could understand.

Chase laughed. "The new girl? Are you serious?"

"W-What's so funny about that?"

"Luke, you've never even talked to this girl," Chase said, his laugh diminishing.

"So?" Luke was confused. He had no idea where Chase was going with this.

"You barely know this girl. Have you thought about talking to her?"

The look Luke gave him would've made you think Chase was a god.

"Chase, that's an awesome idea!" Luke exclaimed. "I hope she's in our next class!

Chase shook his head and sighed. _If Luke couldn't think of that on his own, then I don't want to know how he's still in high school..._

They walked to their class and took their regular table. At the exact moment the tardy bell rang, Luke began to scan the classroom for Angela and started pumping his fist in the air when he found her sitting at an empty table on the other side of the classroom, writing in a notebook. Then, he had an idea and turned to Chase.

"Hey, dude, is it okay if she sits with us?" Luke asked him.

"You know I don't care," he replied.

Luke smiled and walked over to Angela. She looked up from the notebook to see Luke scratching the back of his head. He didn't say anything, just stood in front of her table and scratched his head.

"Hi," Angela said sheepishly to him when she thought he wouldn't say anything.

Luke nervously laughed. "Heh, hey! I was wondering if you wanted to sit with me and my friend?"

A smile spread across her face. "Okay."

Angela grabbed her books, and Luke showed her to his and Chase's table. She took a seat next to Luke.

Chase smiled at Angela and introduced himself. "I'm Chase. You've already met Luke here."

Luke pointed to himself and put on a goofy smile. "I'm Luke!"

Angela giggled. She was feeling a lot more comfortable and not as nervous as she was this morning. Angela had always been shy around people she didn't know. Most of the time, it was because of a fear of being rejected.

"I'm Angela," she said.

* * *

Gill was the first person to get to his second period class. Actually, he always was. He didn't care for talking to people much. The only people he actually got along with were Chase and Bo, a boy two years younger than him and also Luke's co-worker at the Carpenter's. Overly excited people like Luke or Gill's father annoyed him and made him feel exhausted.

As he waited for the tardy bell to ring, he pulled his thick book back out and started to read where he left off before. He was really getting into the book and didn't want to put it down, but sadly had to once the bell rang. He put it on the side of the desk and waited for class to start. He saw one of the new girls at the front of the class, talking and laughing with the teacher, Cain, Renee's father. Cain was telling her that it was her lucky day because all they were going to do in their class today was watch a movie that had nothing to do with math.

Gill asked himself. _What was the girl's name again? Mary? _

She was walking straight toward Gill's empty table now. She sat at an empty chair next to him and gave Gill a friendly smile.

"Hi, I'm Molly! What's your name?" She greeted joyously.

He looked at her with cold, blue eyes and ignored her question. "Why are you sitting here?"

She flinched at his harsh tone. She quickly reviewed her greeting in her head to figure out if she did anything to make him mad, but she couldn't think of anything that could have offended him.

"Umm, there aren't any more empty seats. Are you mad or something?" she asked in confusion.

"No, why do you ask?"

"Well, you sound like you hate my guts already," she explained.

The lights turned off, and the room went dark besides from the light escaping from the curtained windows until Cain turned on a TV that automatically started a children's movie. The room grew silent as everyone else watched the movie.

Gill sighed, disappointed that they weren't going to do anything useful in class and for the fact that Cain chose a dumb kid's movie.

"Hey!" Molly whispered to Gill.

He rolled his eyes. "What?" he whispered back, getting extremely annoyed with her.

"You never told me your name."

"It's Gill," he said, running his fingers through his white blond hair.

Molly furrowed her eyebrows. "Gill? What kind of name is that?"

He ignored her name related question again. "Can you do me a favor?"

Molly cocked her head. "What?"

"Stop talking to me," he grumbled.

She pouted, "Well, fine! I didn't want to talk to you, anyway!" She crossed her arms and looked the other direction. She had never met someone so rude. _What a jerk! I'd rather talk to the mayor or his son. I've never even met the guy and I bet he's a thousand times cooler than this blond jerk!_

"Good," Gill smirked.

Molly sat at their table, trying to pay attention to the movie for what felt like forever and grew more and more irritated knowing that Gill was happy that she wasn't talking to him. She tried hard to restrain herself from talking to him just annoy him to no end. She didn't want to make any enemies here already on her first day, but it was so tempting to annoy him just so that he would get mad again.

_Eh, one enemy won't hurt, right? It's not like I'd ever want to be friends with this jerk, anyway! _

She gave in to her urges and kept tapping her finger on his shoulder. He would turn around and give her a death glare as she tried to hold in her laughter. She thought that it was extremely funny when he got so mad at her, so she started calling his name over and over again while he tried to ignore her.

After hearing Molly say his name thirty-two times, he snapped. "What do you want?"

Molly laughed hysterically. "If you only knew how fun this is!"

Gill's left eye twitched. "You are the most immature person I have ever met," he said coldheartedly.

Molly wasn't laughing any more. "Hey, I'm very mature!" she protested.

"Then act like it."

Molly was done messing with him; she wanted to hit him now._ This guy is so lucky we're in a classroom full of witnesses!_

The rest of the school day went by fast. Molly and Angela, of course, walked back home together and shared how their first day went. Angela was satisfied with her first day and was excited to go back. Molly was just glad to be out of school.

Chase, Luke, and Gill went out to eat at Ocarina Inn after school. Luke and Gill were still mad with each other and didn't want to even be near each other, but Chase insisted they both go. He was always the one to make peace between the two.

"Will you guys please talk to each other?" Chase begged. Luke and Gill grunted. "Will you at least talk to me?" Chase tried again. Both looked like they wanted to, but didn't. Chase then slapped his hand on the table. "Fine! Gill, did I ever tell you what Luke told me today?"

Luke gasped. "OKAY, I'LL TALK!"

Chase smiled. "Good."

Gill raised his eyebrows, now interested. "Chase, what did Luke tell you?" Gill didn't like secrets.

Chase's face fell. "Umm..." He couldn't to figure out what to say now.

When he didn't get what he wanted, Gill had a way of intimidating people so much that they would pee their pants. He started shooting daggers from his eyes at both of them. "Chase," Gill said his name sternly.

Chase cringed, and Luke started to panic. Chase looked over at Luke and mouthed an "I'm sorry."

"He has a crush on the new girl, Angela..." Chase said reluctantly.

Gill turned to Luke. "That's it?" he asked, slightly disappointed. _What a stupid secret. _"Well, I'm actually glad you don't like her sister. Even you don't deserve her," he said, taking a drink of tomato juice.

Luke took it the wrong way and said in shock, "You like Molly?"

Gill eyes went wide, and he spat out his drink. "WHAT?"

"I don't blame him. Molly is kind of cute in a way…" Chase spoke up.

"Pssh, yeah, right! Gill doesn't have a chance with both of them!" Luke said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gill asked with one of his scary faces.

"Gill, don't hurt me, but you'd probably scare them off," Chase said.

"Hmph, like you're one to talk. You would bore them to death with your hour long conversations about cooking!"

Luke laughed. "That's so true!"

Chase started getting red. "Oh, yeah? Well, I bet I could get one of them to kiss me before any of you can dare to hold hands with them!"

"Are you looking for a bet? Because I bet I can get one of them to kiss me before both of you!" Gill said confidently.

"No way! Angela would never kiss any of your faces!" Luke yelled in disgust.

"Oh, shut up, Luke. You're living proof that a human can live without a brain!"

Luke was really hurt by that blow. He got up from his chair. "You think that, huh? Fine, then. I bet I can get Angela to kiss me before you guys get anywhere near Molly because I know for a fact I'm not letting you guys get Angela!"

And with that, Luke stormed out of the Inn, leaving Gill and Chase to fight some more.

"Now look what you did!" Gill yelled.

"Why would you care if Luke is mad?" Chase asked in a rude tone.

"Because now he's not going to let us get anywhere near Angela, and I'm definitely not getting Molly to kiss me for this bet!"

"Then why did you say you liked Molly?"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!"

* * *

**** I can't help but think the argument between the boys felt a bit rushed :/ Thank you for R&R! :) ****


	3. Farming and Rules

**** Hello my lovely people! Hehe, my best friend says that every morning at school! :D  
Sooo, here is the next chapter! This one focuses more on Chase.  
You're welcome Chase fangirls but I have a feeling you're going to hate me when you see who else is in this chapter xD  
Hahaha, either way, I hope you like it! ****

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Chapter 3

The first week of school for Angela and Molly was very enjoyable overall, but they were happy that the weekend had come. This was the weekend that they were going to start working on their farm. Their parents did say that they would send them some money to last them for the season, and when they got the money, it was barely enough to buy a week's supply of food.

"Oh, don't worry, Angie-poo!" Molly said, trying to cheer up her sister as soon as she saw disappointment on her face. "I'm sure they're just short on cash!"

They needed money in order to survive. Angela was eager to buy a cow or sheep to put in the barn, but since they didn't have enough money, they decided to grow crops until they had a stable amount of money. Their farm already came with a red toolbox full of the necessary instruments and a free plot of land, so now all they needed were the seeds.

Angela offered to go to Marimba Farm in Flute Fields to buy the seeds while she went out jogging. She put on black shorts, a orange shirt, put her hair up in a messy, but cute ponytail, grabbed her rucksack and went her way to Flute Fields.

It was a sunny and very warm spring day. The sun felt good on Angela's perspiring skin. Her pulse started to beat faster and faster, and she felt all hidden stress being released from her body. This was why she loved to go jogging: it relaxed her. It took her mind off all of the bad things and made her focus more positively. Plus, she loved the fact that it was good for her health!

When she made it to Flute Fields, she caught her breath as she looked around for Marimba Farm. She found it straight ahead and entered the shop. There was a frowning woman behind the counter and a man examining a bucket of what produce they had. Angela walked up to the counter.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the woman asked. Her sad mood started to invade Angela, but she tried to fight back.

"I wanted to buy some seeds, please," she replied.

"So, you must be one of the girls at the new farm, huh? I'm Ruth, and that's my husband, Craig, over there." She pointed to the man that was looking though their produce. He nodded, and she spoke again. "You're welcome to buy seeds. What kind would you like?"

Angela only had a small amount to spend on the seeds, so she just bought four bags of lettuce seed and three bags of strawberry seed. Ruth recommended both plants since lettuce sold for a lot and strawberry plants re-grew its produce, so that meant they wouldn't have to plant anymore.

Angela put the seeds in her rucksack and started wondering around Flute Fields to explore the area before heading home. She followed a path going east and ended up at Horn Ranch. She saw all of the animals outside, and her eyes twinkled. She also saw a familiar girl with bobbed brown hair and honey brown eyes. She looked as if she could've been related to Angela and Molly because she looked so much like them. The girl saw Angela, waved, and walked up to her with a cheerful smile.

"Hey, Angela! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Hi, Renee." Angela smiled. She liked Renee. Renee was so easy to get along with and was always friendly and happy. "I was just walking around the area since I've never been around this side of the island."

"Oh, that's nice. Say, do you and Molly have plans for animals at y'all's farm?"

She sighed. "I wish! We don't have enough money to buy any right now, so we're going to grow some crops until we get some income."

She giggled. "Well, I wondering because my dad wants to give you both a free calf!"

Her jaw dropped. "Renee, don't tease me!"

"I'm not teasing! He's in the barn right now. Go ask him yourself," she laughed.

Angela squealed with joy and gave her a bear hug before running to their barn. Renee was telling the truth. Cain let Angela chose between three different colored calves - a black one, a brown one, or a white one with black spots. She looked at the cute brown one and immediately chose it. She felt an instant connection with the baby cow.

"I'm going to give you a week worth of fodder to start you out. What are you going to name it?" Cain asked.

"Brownie," she proclaimed.

Brownie mooed with delight.

Renee offered to help Angela take Brownie to the farm, and they talked the whole way there. They talked mostly about their love of animals. When they got back to the farm, they saw Molly with Chase, laughing at a joke Molly must have made.

Molly saw Angela and Renee and glanced down at Brownie. She was instantly puzzled. "Hey...this might be a dumb question...but you know there's a cow right there, right?" she asked, trying to think of an explanation as to why they had a chocolate brown calf.

"My dad is giving y'all this cow," Renee said after giggling at Molly's question.

"Are you serious? That's so nice of him!"

Renee smiled. "Think of it as a welcoming gift." She looked up at the sky to find the sun's position. This was how she estimated time when she didn't have access to a clock or watch. "Well, I should be getting back to feed the animals. I'll see y'all later!" She waved goodbye, and Molly, Angela, and Chase did the same.

"How was your run?" Molly asked Angela. "Usually you go longer than that."

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go for another after I feed Brownie. Oh, and I got the seeds too!" Angela whipped out seven bags of seeds and placed them in her sister's hands.

"Awesome!" Molly turned to Chase, who was standing there quietly, not because he was being shy, but because he didn't have anything to say. "Do you want to plant them with me while she is out jogging?"

Chase grinned. "Sure."

Angela fed and brushed Brownie and set off for a second round of jogging. Instead of running through Flute Fields, she went towards the Garmon Mine District north of the farm. Molly pulled all of her necessary tools out of her own rucksack and set them on the ground next to the seeds and looked out at her plot of farmland with a expression of concentration.

"D-Do I have to teach you how to farm?" Chase asked.

She shook her head. "Nah, I already asked Anissa how to yesterday during school. I'm just getting a good look at the field."

He sighed in relief. "Good, because I don't know anything about farming."

They started working, and Molly taught Chase how to plant the seeds step by step. He didn't do very well when trying to till the soil for the seeds, but he was a master at using the watering can. Molly kept teasing his lack of upper body strength, but quickly shut up after getting drained from pulling out weeds on the other side of the plot. After finishing the work they laid in the grass and asked each other questions while watching the fluffy clouds slowly drift across the baby blue sky.

"So, why did you and your sister move here?" Chase asked.

Molly continued to search the sky for a cool shaped cloud. "Our parents think we will have a better life here away from the city. Oh, I found one that looks like a turtle!" She pointed to the cloud. "Right there! You see it?"

Chase chuckled. "Oh, yeah! I found one that looks like a cloud," he said, pointing randomly above.

Molly laughed. "So, what do you do for fun around here?"

"I cook," he answered simply.

"You cook, huh? What do you like to cook?" Molly was pretty curious since she didn't cook very well. Last time she tried to cook was when she attempted to make Angela homemade fried chicken for dinner a few years before. Angela came down with food poisoning, and Molly had to take care of her until she was well again. Molly felt a heavy weight of guilt. Now, Molly doesn't dare to cook anything for anyone.

Chase shrugged. "Just about everything. Do you like to cook?"

"...Yeah, but I don't anymore."

Chase rolled his head to look at Molly. "Why not?"

"Last time I did, Angela got food poisoning..." Molly's eyes were becoming slowly clouded with sorrow as she reminisced about her mistake.

Chase picked up on Molly's change of mood. "Oh, don't beat yourself up!" he said in an effort to cheer her up.

She sat up to see his face. "Chase, people can die from food poisoning!" Molly snapped, her voice cracking vaguely. She began clearing her throat, in hopes to make the lump in her throat that was forming to go away.

Chase sat up too. "But that's why you keep trying so you can prevent it from happening again," Chase sighed. "If you want...I can teach you to cook."

"I don't know..."

"C'mon. It doesn't hurt to try," he persisted.

She paused to think about the offer. _I __guess __it __wouldn't __hurt __to __try..._

"Okay," she said. Chase gave a grin across his cheeks in response. She smiled back and laid back down on her back to view the clouds once again with Chase doing the same. They stared up at the sky without conversation until something popped into Molly's mind. "Hey, you're friends with Gill, right?" she asked.

He hesitated. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, on my first day here, he didn't want anything to do with me at all. He even straight up asked me to not talk to him when I was only trying to be friendly."

"That's Gill for you!" Chase laughed.

"Yeah, but that's the thing. The day after that, he started trying to make small talk with me. It was kinda confusing and weird. Actually, now that I think about it, you started talking to me out of nowhere too, but I understand it from you I guess since you're...well...not a complete jerk face like Gill. Anyways, do you know why he's acting like this?"

Chase gulped. _Uh__ oh. __She's __on __to __the __bet. __How __am __I __supposed __to __answer __this? __Everything __I__ think __of __involves __me__ lying __to __her, __and __she'll __know __I'm __lying. __Everyone __can __pick __out __when__ I __lie!_

This was true. Chase was a terrible liar. Whenever Chase tries to lie, his lip quivers, he picks his cuticles and stutters with almost every word he speaks. He couldn't help it. It was just a natural reflex to him.

Chase needed an escape from the conversation and started looking around. "Hey, have you ever thought about having chickens? I hear they're easy to take care of," he said, panic evident in his tone.

Molly furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait, you didn't answer my question."

Chase sprung up on his feet at looked down at his imaginary wristwatch. "W-Would you l-look at th-that? I'm l-l-late for my sh-shift at the b-b-bar!" Chase spat out as his face started to flush. His lips started trembling. Dishonesty was summoning his usual symptoms, much to Chase's misfortune.

She frowned. "The bar doesn't open for another five hours..."

Chase urgently tried to keep his hands away from each other and said, "Y-Yeah, g-g-gotta prepare! I'll see you later!" He ran away towards his home in Flute Fields after that. _Thank__ the __Harvest __Goddess __that __that __last __sentence __was__ the __truth...at __least __I __hope __so._

Later that day, Luke, Chase, and Gill all met up at Ocarina Inn to talk about their "bet." They weren't in such a good mood to eat, so they just sat at one of the tables.

"Okay, if we're going to this, we need some rules," Gill proposed.

"Of course, you would want rules..." Luke grumbled.

Truthfully, the three boys didn't like the idea of using the twins as part of a stupid bet, but it was about proving themselves. All three of them didn't think any of them could do it and, as members of the male gender, wanted to prove themselves, especially when it came to girls. They didn't want to accept the possibility that they wouldn't be able to kiss one of the girls.

"The first rule," Gill began, "is no keeping one of the girls for themselves," he said, directing it to Luke.

"Dude! Why can't you just go after Molly?" Luke complained. "I actually like Angela..."

"Because Molly is torture to be around!"

"Aw, c'mon, Gill," Chase said. "She's really cool to be around. Besides, I don't think Luke is going to give up."

Gill growled. "Fine, but when she literally annoys me to death, I will make sure you are kicked off this island!"

Luke smiled and did a fist pump, happy he wouldn't have to fight them for Angela. Gill rolled his eyes. "Hey, the losers should have to do something funny when they lose!" Luke proposed, excited.

Chase and Gill's eyebrows rose. They were interested in this idea.

"Like what?" Gill asked.

Chase snickered. "How about the loser has to wear Julius' clothes for a week?"

Luke exploded in laughter and Gill smirked. "THAT'S PERFECT!" Luke cried, still laughing.

Chase took a deep breath to get the laughter out of his system. "Then, it's settled. Next rule," he said and waited for Luke to stop laughing before he continued. "We can't tell anyone about this."

Gill nodded in agreement.

"Duuuh!" Luke said.

Chase looked at both of the other guys. "So, we're really doing this?" he asked.

"What? Are you afraid that you're going to lose to me?" Gill provoked.

Luke snorted and sarcastically said, "Yeah, I'm going to lose to you!"

Chase gritted his teeth. "Hey, I'm not going to lose!" he yelled, and then realized what was happening and halted. "That brings us to our next rule. No more fighting about who will win or lose. We can't keep fighting like this!"

They all nodded and Luke spoke up. "Wait, wait, wait, let me get everything straight," he said. "Whoever gets either Angela or Molly to kiss them first wins, the losers are gonna wear Julius' clothes for a week, we can't fight, and we can't tell anyone about the bet. Is that all right?"

_"Wow,__he__ actually __paid __attention,"_ Chase thought to himself, surprised Luke got it all right on the first try.

"Okay, is that everything? I need to get back to work," Gill said, impatiently.

"Yeah, I have to go back too. My pops needs me to get extra lumber today!" Luke added.

"Yeah, I guess so..." Chase said.

Luke and Gill left, leaving Chase alone at the Inn, sitting at their table.

He didn't need to be anywhere for another few hours, so he figured he would grab a bite to eat there. He waited for someone to take his order when a blonde-orange haired girl poked her head out from the backroom and giggled.

"Hi, Chase!" She ran up to him and trapped him in a suffocating hug.

"Get...off...me!"

The girl giggled again and let him go.

Chase gasped from the lack of oxygen. "Maya, I've told a million times already not to hug me without permission!"

She puffed out her cheeks. "You're so mean to me!"

"Can you just take my order?" he asked rudely.

He does this on purpose. Maya has always had a crush on him that he hated, so he figured if he were mean to her, she would eventually leave him alone. So far, it hasn't affected Maya's feelings for him at all. She would get mad at whatever mean thing Chase did or say to her, and then the next day would have forgiven him of everything.

She pouted and pulled out a notepad from a small pocket on her white apron. "Fine! What do you want, meanie-head?"

He sighed. "Get me an orange pie."

"It's the middle of the day!"

"Haven't you ever heard 'the customer is always right'?"

She scribbled his order in her notepad. "Whatever! I'm guessing you want orange juice with that?"

"Thank you," Chase said with a fake smile.

Maya stomped to the kitchen while Chase waited for his food. When Maya came back, she was carrying a large tray with Chase's order and placed the food in front of him. She held her hands behind her back as she watched Chase.

Chase examined it before asking, "Please don't tell me you made this, Maya."

She hesitated slightly. "No, I didn't make it."

"Are you sure?" he asked skeptically.

He didn't want to eat Maya's cooking at all. Everything Maya made was a disaster. Even if it looked delicious, it could taste like dirt, and that's what Chase feared because the orange pie looked absolutely scrumptious.

"I promise!" she said, secretly crossing her fingers behind her back.

Chase risked taking her word for it and took a bite of the pie. Maya bit her lip as he did. His eyes went wide, and he immediately spit it out. He desperately drank his orange juice to wash out the disgusting flavors from his mouth, but spit the juice out as well and then started wiping his tongue with a napkin to make sure he didn't taste anything worse.

Maya frowned and looked down in shame. "And I thought I got it right this time..."

"Maya, I thought you said you DIDN'T make this?" Chase said through his teeth.

"Yeah, I lied..." she said quietly.

"Maya, that napkin tasted better than your cooking," Chase said rather harshly.

Maya flinched from Chase's insult, and her eyes started to gradually fill up with tears. She felt them wanting to escape, and she ran out of the room and let them run down her face.

Chase sighed. _Smooth,__Chase...__You__ made__ her__ cry.__Even__ if__ her __food__ tasted __like __crap,__ I __guess __she __didn't __deserve __that..._

He walked to the backroom of the Inn to enter a hallway and knocked on Maya's bedroom door.

"Go away!" he heard from inside her room.

He entered anyway and saw Maya on her bed, crying into her pillow. She heard the door open and looked behind her to see Chase in the middle of her room.

She sniffled. "What do you want? Did you come to insult me some more like you always do?"

"No, I wanted to say...I'm sorry," he muttered.

She looked at him in shook. "Did you just say that you're sorry?" she asked to make sure she wasn't hearing things.

"...Yeah, so?"

Maya smiled and ran up to Chase gave him one of her hugs. "You've never said sorry to me EVER!" she said happily.

"You're...hugging...me...again!"

Maya let go of him and let Chase breath.

"What did I say about hugging me?" Chase chided.

She giggled. "Hehe, sorry!"

* * *

**** I hope you liked it and don't forget to review!  
And remember, I accept all reviews! Especially ones with story ideas or constructive criticism :) ****


	4. Welcome to Fugue Forest

**** Thank you for even considering to read this story! You guys are amazing! :)**

**I haven't done a disclaimer in awhile so...I DO NOT OWN HARVEST MOON...sadly! ****

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Chapter 4

The next day, Angela and Molly woke up and performed their usual early morning routine. Angela jumped out of bed while Molly moaned and buried her head under her pillow. Angela rolled her eyes and grabbed Molly by her ankles and literally dragged her out of bed. She left her on the floor as Molly whined, and she went to the kitchen area and started cooking them both some fried eggs and a few slices of toast. Molly picked herself off the floor and walked to the kitchen area and sat down at the table. She made a pillow out of her arms and rested her eyes until she heard a loud clamor, to which she covered her ears to muffle the sound. She looked straight at Angela who was holding a wooden spatula and a pot.

Molly shot a look at her twin. "I hate you."

Angela smirked. "I'm glad you're awake now."

Molly stuck her tongue out at her, and Angela giggled.

Once they both ate their breakfast, they brushed their teeth, and began their slim amount of work on the farm. Angela feed and brushed Brownie while Molly watered the few crops they had. When they finished their work, Angela had convinced Molly to go on a morning run with her. Molly was uncertain at first, but Angela pleaded until she said yes. They both went inside to change quickly and ran through Flute Fields.

Molly tried to talk while running, but she would occasionally bite her tongue on accident. She was getting tired very quickly as her face reddened from her body's rising body temperature and had to take small breaks here and there. Upon one of her many breaks was near Fugue Forest, which was next to Horn Ranch. The sisters looked at the entrance with curiosity.

"Wanna go in?" Molly asked.

Angela nodded. "I've never been into the forest before."

They walked through the dark forest, careful not to trip on rocks and run into the numerous trees they found. It was a little hard to navigate where they could go when they barely had enough light to see the trail they were on, but they kept going. Angela became paranoid and watched out for any bugs that could be near her. She didn't like bugs at all and suddenly regretted going into the woods when she remembered bugs inhabited places like forests. Molly actually liked bugs as long as they weren't poisonous, so she had no fear at all. As they explored deeper into the forest, Angela was in front while Molly had to push her along. After two hours of continuous wondering, they got lost and Angela started to go into a hysterical frenzy while Molly only became annoyed.

As they went, Angela walked in between two trees and felt a thin spider web run into her face. She screamed, startling Molly so much that she fell backwards on her butt. Angela started swatting the air and her face in disgust until something else frightened her. She saw a figure from the shadows coming towards them with what looked like an axe. She screamed again and retreated to a bush nearby. Molly was shaken too by the figure and joined her sister in hiding, peeking out to watched the figure get closer and closer.

"You guys, calm down! It's just me," the figure said.

It was a very familiar voice, so Angela popped her head out to see who it was.

"Luke?" Angela called.

"Yeah, it's me. Why do you guys look like you're gonna pee your pants?" Luke asked, resting his axe on his shoulder.

"We thought you were some sort of axe murderer or something!" Molly said. She crawled out of the bushes with Angela. Luke helped both of the girls up to their feet like a gentleman.

Luke rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Sorry 'bout that! I was just out here getting lumber, that's all."

Angela sighed and rubbed her arms to relieve the goosebumps. "That's okay. Say, do you know the way out of here?"

"I sure do!" he said proudly with a goofy smile across his face. "Do you guys need an escort outta here?"

"Yes, please," Molly and Angela said in unison.

As Luke walked the girls out, Angela, out of fear, wrapped her arm around Luke's involuntarily as she scanned her surroundings for insects. She was so preoccupied with her paranoia that she didn't notice Luke's cheeks turning pink or the fact that she was gripping his arm tightly. Molly followed behind Luke and Angela, smiling at her sister and trying not to giggle too loudly. She thought it was cute and had the urge to yell something like, "Get a room," but she fought back the urge when deciding not to embarrass her.

When out of Fugue Forest, the sun shown brightly in the three's eyes and proven how dark in comparison the forest was. As their eyes adapted to the light, Angela finally noticed her arm around Luke's arm and let go in embarrassment. Luke face fell, but not enough for the girls to notice. Molly and Angela invited Luke to lunch at Ocarina Inn, and he, of course wanting to be around Angela some more, accepted.

They walked to Harmonica Town and into the Inn where Maya was working as a waitress while her grandmother, Yolanda, was the head chef in the kitchen. They grabbed a table and Maya took their orders after having a quick, perky conversation with Molly. While waiting for their food, Luke began talking about his job.

"So, you gather lumber for your dad's carpentry," Angela restated.

"Yep, and help make furniture, but Bo does most of the furniture," he said.

"What do you guys make over there?" Molly asked.

"Whatever you need as long as we know how to do it. We make tables, chairs, beds, and other stuff. I sometimes help my pops build and upgrade buildings too."

"Wait." Molly held a hand up to stop him. "You mean you can make our house bigger?"

"Why would we need our house to be bigger?" Angela asked.

"Because I miss not getting dragged out of bed in the morning."

Angela grinned and muttered, "I'd drag you out, anyways." Molly punched her arm. Angela rubbed where she punched. "Ow!"

"That's what you get!"

Luke laughed. "Yeah, Molly, we can do that."

Molly's eyes lit up. "Seriously, Ang! Don't you miss having your own quiet room?"

"Yeah, I guess I have since you never sit still for two seconds…"

Molly squeezed Angela and turned to Luke. "What do we have to do to have another room?"

"Well, you'll have to supply the lumber, material stone, the costs, and since we've never worked with you guys before you have to show us the deed to the farm," Luke said.

"…Did the mayor ever give us a deed?" Angela asked quietly to Molly.

Molly slammed her fist to the table, startling Angela and Luke. "Crap! That freak ripped us off! I knew there was something fishy about him!" Molly bellowed.

Angela sighed. "He's not a freak, Molly. He's just…short and…complimentary. And I'm sure he just forgot to give us the deed," Angela said, making up an excuse for someone she didn't know very well.

"Actually, Hamilton is kinda weird," Luke snickered.

"You've got that right," Molly said.

Angela rolled her eyes and pushed the mayor out of the conversation. "Where can we get the materials?"

"In Fugue Forest," Luke said. "I'll give you my old axe to cut trees, and I can ask my buddy, Owen, to give you his old hammer to get stone from rocks. If you want I can help you gather material today…"

Molly raised her eyebrows and looked back and forth between the two with a smirk.

"Y-Yeah, thanks," she said, turning her head away to hide her face from Luke. She felt her face get warmer. "We can collect money when our crops are ready to be harvested." She turned to Molly. "Can you get the deed while I'm getting materials?"

Her smirk disappeared to a scowl. "Aww, you've gotta be kidding me," she groaned. Angela gave a look that made Molly roll her eyes and throw her hands up in the air. "Fine! Where is the mayor at?"

"He's usually at Town Hall, but since it's closed on Sundays, he'll probably be at his house. I can show you where it's at when we leave here," Luke said.

The three ate their meals and left the Inn. Luke led the way to the mayor's house like he said he would for Molly. Luke and Angela left Molly in front of the mayor's house and began walking to the Garmon Mine District to visit Luke's good friend, Owen.

* * *

**** I hope you liked this chapter even though it's shorter than my usual chapters. The next chapter is coming soon!  
Don't forget to review to tell me what you think or if you have suggestions or constructive criticism! :) ****


	5. Siren Song

**** This chapter came quickly, huh? I wrote it right after I posted the last one :P **

**I hope you like this chapter! I had fun writing it and it didn't take very long to write it either! :D ****

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Chapter 5 

As they made their way to Garmon Mines, Luke showed Angela a shortcut using a fixed up mine cart near Harmonica Town's church. They rode it together and were dropped off at Garmon Mines. Angela had never been to this part of the island yet, so she was baffled when she saw everything. It wasn't the prettiest place on the island, but it had an adventurous aura to it that Angela liked. Luke walked her to the Blacksmith's, which was not even twenty feet away from the mine cart, and held the door open for her as she entered. There was a seemingly grumpy looking old man behind the front counter.

"Hey, Ramsey!" Luke greeted the man. "Is Owen here today?"

Ramsey, Owen's grandfather, told them that Owen was at the Carpentry, running errands for him. Luke lead the way two shops to the Carpentry and entered his home again after holding the door for Angela once again.

It smelled like pine trees and sawdust inside the building. There was a rather hefty man with tied back blue hair behind the front counter and a buff red haired guy on the other side of the counter. His arms were bigger than Luke's, as was his head.

"What's up, big-head?" Luke laughed.

"Not much, twig arms!" the red haired boy said laughing also.

"Hey, mine aren't twigs! Yours are just freakishly large!"

"I think someone is just jealous because I can lift more than them!" The boys kept up with their taunting until Angela finally cleared her throat loudly while they were comparing muscles. They both looked at her. "Hey, Luke, isn't that one of the new girls?" the red head asked.

"I'm Angela," she said. "I'm guessing you're Owen?"

"Heh, good guess. Nice to finally meet you!" Owen said friendlily.

The man with blue hair behind the counter spoke up then. "So, you're Angela?" She nodded and Luke's eyes got big. "Luke has been talking about you all week about how beau –"

Luke gasped and cut him off by blurting out loudly, "BO BROKE THAT BED YOU MADE YESTERDAY!"

"WHAT?" The man dropped what he was saying to Angela and bolted to the back room.

"_Bo __is __going __to __kill __me__ later__…_" Luke thought.

Owen laughed hysterically and held his sides while Angela blinked, clueless about what had just happened.

"Umm…anyways, we were actually looking for you," Angela said to Owen.

Owen waited until his laughing fit was finished before responding. "Really? Why?"

"We wanted to know if you would give Angela and Molly your old hammer," Luke said.

"Oh, sure! I don't even use that old thing anymore after getting my new one!"

After obtaining Owen's old hammer, Luke and Angela went to Fugue Forest to gather the needed materials for the house upgrade. Angela was still a little afraid of the forest, but Luke reassured her that she was safe with him, and she felt much better when he did. She wasn't very good at using the tools at all, mostly because the tools weighed so much and made her fall over. Luke laughed and showed her how to properly hold and use them. He had her show him how she would normally use the axe and shook his head in disagreement.

"First off, you can't have both hands at the bottom to the handle." He slid one of her hands further up and then wrapped his arms around her body and held the axe with her. "And second, you have to use your legs too when swinging." He followed through a practice swing with her. He looked down at her face, which was only a few inches away now, and noticed her face was scarlet. He realized why and unwrapped his arms from her and scratched the back of his head, turning scarlet himself. "Sorry," he said, laughing nervously.

Angela smiled faintly. "It's okay."

* * *

Molly knocked on the mayor's door and waited. No one answered. She knocked a second time and then a third time. Still, no answer. Molly didn't give up. On the fourth round of knocking, she pounded on the blue door, and suddenly someone opened the door, causing Molly to accidentally hit him in the face.

He grabbed his face and grunted. "What is your problem?"

It wasn't the mayor. Mayor Hamilton was way shorter and rounder than this guy. Plus his voice was higher than this guy's. This guy was Gill.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "I thought this was the mayor's house! I guess Luke sent me to the wrong place."

Gill took his hand away from his face once it stopped hurting and combed his fingers through his white blonde hair. "No. You've got the right house, unfortunately," he grumbled.

"Then, what the heck are you doing here?"

"I live here too."

She laughed under her breath. "That's kinda creepy!"

He rolled his eyes. _Goddess,__ she's __such __an __idiot._ "I'm the mayor's only son."

Molly's jaw dropped, and her eyes grew three times wider than they originally were. "YOU'RE THE MAYOR'S SON?"

Gill shook his head. "Wow. Nothing gets past you, genius."

Molly snarled, but held back an insult so that she wouldn't make a scene. "Listen, I'm looking for the mayor. Can you tell me where he is?"

"How should I know where he is?"

Molly rubbed her chin in pretend thought. "Hmm, I don't know. Maybe because he is your freaking father!"

He just looked at her with a bored expression. "I'm going inside now."

He began to close the door, but Molly stopped it with her hand. "Wait," she said. "Can you at least help me with something?"

"Hmph, why should I help you?" He sounded so snobby when he said this. He was still trying to close the door, but was surprised when Molly managed to keep it open with one arm without struggling. He was using both arms and felt like a total weakling.

Molly really wanted to hit him. She was growing impatient and can feel aggravation creeping up on her. "Can you just go inside and get me and my sister's deed to the farm?"

"I can't. All of those kinds of documents are locked up in Town Hall." After saying this, Gill gave up trying to close the door and kept it open.

"Thank you," she muttered coldly.

"Whatever."

"You're the mayor's son aren't you? Don't you have a key or something to Town Hall, so you can go get the deed for me?"

"Yeah, but I'm not going to."

Molly's fists clenched. "And why not?"

"You punched me in the nose!" he reminded her.

"Do you want me to actually punch you this time?" she yelled, holding her fist in the air over her head.

"Go ahead! One word from me, and I'll have you and your sister kicked off Castanet Island!" he threatened, and then suddenly he remembered something that made him mentally facepalm himself. _Oh, __no. __I __forgot __about __that__ stupid __bet! __And __I've __already __made __her __mad __at __me._

"You are the most inconsiderate jerk I have ever known! I hope you end up old and alone!" Molly screamed. With that, she walked away. She wanted to break something to release the built up anger.

Gill flinched from what she said and felt a sharp pain in his chest. "Wait!" he called out to her and ran after her. He grabbed her shoulder and twirled her around, but Molly reacted by slapping him in the face. He was stunned and froze into place. Touching where his cheek stung, he watched her as she stormed off to her farmland.

Molly growled and cursed under her breath as she stomped home. She went straight inside to her bookshelf. She pulled out a small black case and carried it outside. She settled herself on a grassy area near a river and broken waterwheel on the farm. She opened the case and pulled out three pieces of a shiny, silver flute and put them together. She made sure the mouthpiece's hole was in line with the keys and began to blow air in it, but, at the same time, across it. She played the most beautiful music from the top of her head, and gradually her anger subsided. She was relaxed now, and she only wanted to focus on the flute.

Gill locked Town Hall's front door and began to walk to the farm with a piece of paper in hand. "I hate this bet. I hate this bet. I hate this bet," he mumbled to himself.

He really hated what he was about to do, but what else could he do? He sure can't win the bet if Molly hated his guts. If only Luke would let Gill win the bet with Angela; anybody but that wretched sister of her's.

He walked across a stone bridge near the farmland and started to hear music. It was a siren song. He was captivated by its alluring melody and searched frantically for its source. He walked around, following the soothing music and stopped when he looked dead ahead at the source – Molly. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, so rubbed them, but he still saw Molly playing her heart and soul into the flute.

He crept closer, but not enough to where Molly would see him; he didn't want to interrupt her song. He listened to it with his eyes closed and felt his tense muscles relax. He completely forgot about the bet and real motive as to why he was even there in the first place. It didn't matter anymore and wasn't important. When the music sadly ended, he opened his eyes and walked up to Molly.

She looked up at Gill from where she was sitting, looked back out at the river beside her, and sighed. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to apologize…" Gill muttered.

Her eyes shot up at Gill's face. "What did you say?" she asked as she got off from the ground, holding her flute with her right hand. She must have been hearing things.

"I'm sorry for being so rude to you earlier." He handed her the paper in his hand to her free hand.

"What is this?"

"The deed to the farm. You said you were looking for this right?"

She looked at the deed and back at Gill with shock. "Y-Yeah, thanks." They were quiet for a moment. "Hey, I'm sorry for what I said too. It was pretty harsh. I never mean anything I say when I'm mad..."

Gill nodded. "It's okay." He glanced down at her flute. "That was really nice…"

"Huh?"

"The music," he clarified. "You play it very well."

She smiled gently. "Oh, thanks. I've been playing since I was little. Do play anything?"

"Yes, piano," he said. Molly gasped, covering her mouth. Gill blinked. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"N-No! It's just… I've always wanted to play piano. It makes the most beautiful music…" She looked to the ground at her white sneakers and bit her lip. _I__ can't __believe __I'm__ about __to __ask __him__ this. _"Do you think you can teach me how?"

Gill was taken by surprise. "Uhh…" His mind went blank.

Molly took this as a way of rejection and quickly retreated. "Or if you don't want to, that's fine! I was just wondering…" Her face fell from disappointment.

Gill took notice and recollected himself. "No, wait, I can teach you!"

Molly beamed excitedly. "Seriously? You mean it?"

"Well, sure. I mean, it's really simple," he said.

Molly squealed and hugged Gill tightly. "Thank you!" Gill stood there with his arms still by his side as she hugged him, not knowing what to do. Eventually, she let go of him and giggled. "Sorry."

They stood in front of each other in silence. Gill's intelligent brain couldn't process what just happened. "I think I'm going to go home now," he spat out. He then turned around and swiftly walked away.

"Okay, well, don't forget about your offer!" Molly called out as he walked off.

He stared at the ground as he walked with furrowed eyebrows and thought, _"What__ the __hell __just __happen __to __me?"_

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__**_** _Thank you for reading! If you like this story then please REVIEW! I can't help but think that people don't like my story when they don't review :S ****_  
_


	6. Cooking Debacle

**** Here's the next chapter! :) ****

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Chapter 6

"Are you still up for that cooking lesson?" Chase asked Molly in their history class.

Molly now sat between Gill and Chase, where Luke used to sit. Luke had convinced Angela to sit alone with him at a different table nearby in an attempt to make sure Chase or Gill wouldn't try anything with her. Gill and Chase weren't going to try anything anyways, especially Chase. He had actually taken a liking to Molly.

"Heck yeah, I am!" Molly exclaimed. "I was thinking we could do it tomorrow. Does that sound okay?"

"Sounds great!" Chase smiled. He was honestly excited to teach Molly something about what he loved the most – cooking.

Gill grunted as he overheard their conversation, not looking up from his book. Molly looked over at Gill and smirked.

"Awww!" She reached over to pinch his cheek. "Is Gilly having a bad morning?"

He slapped her hand away. "It would be nice to have a quiet morning," he said in a dull tone.

Gill, on the other hand, still thought she was annoying, but even though Gill thought she was a pest, he couldn't help but have the siren song she played on her flute stuck in his head. He could barely sleep last night because it wouldn't stop playing in his head. He tried desperately to focus on something else to think of something other than the music. "It wasn't that great of a tune," he would repeat in his mind.

Chase chuckled. "Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Bite me."

Later at lunch, Chase invited Molly to sit with him, Gill, Luke, and Bo at their lunch table, so, in result, Molly and Luke drowned Angela with a million pleas to sit at the table with them. When they were all settled and had their lunch, Luke started spitting out questions to Angela and Molly.

"So, you guys are twins?" Luke asked.

"Yep!" Molly and Angela said together proudly.

"But you guys don't look the same."

"We're fraternal twins," Angela explained.

Luke paused. "What does that mean?"

Bo and Chase facepalmed.

Gill rolled his eyes. "It means that they aren't identical, you idiot."

Luke glared at him. "Thanks, sweater vest," he retorted.

Angela became tense and uncomfortable suddenly. Luckily for Angela, Bo jumped into the conversation to break the tension. "So, which one of you is the oldest then?" he asked.

Molly giggled. "I am!" she said, waving her hand up in the air like she was in elementary school.

"Hmph, you sure don't act like it," Gill muttered.

Molly frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"_Oh__, no__…__He's __going __to __make __her __mad__…_" Angela thought. She became even more uncomfortable and sunk back in her chair. She hated when people fought.

"I mean that you act childish for being the eldest sibling."

"SHEESH! School lunches never get better, huh?" Angela said loudly to interrupt. She turned to her right and gave Luke and Bo a look that screamed, "Play along!"

"You do have a point," Chase said as he poked his herb fish. "They use such low quality ingredients…"

Luke finally reacted to Angela's cry for help and shot up from his chair. "YEAH! THIS TASTES LIKE CRAP!" he hollered, throwing his fork across the cafeteria. Everyone in the room grew quiet and stared at him, except for Molly and Owen, who was at another table. They laughed uncontrollably. Luke flushed and sat but down.

Angela smiled at Luke. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"No problem," he whispered back.

After eating their tasteless lunches, everyone went to their next period. Angela was going to dance class. She loved to dance and was actually quite good at it. She had been dancing ever since she was seven years old. There weren't a lot of people in the class. Other than herself, there was only Kathy, Luna, Julius, and Selena. The class did their daily stretches until they were assigned groups to work with. She was in a group with Selena and Julius.

Julius was the only boy in the class, which didn't matter because he looked like a girl, anyways. It was as if there wasn't a boy in the class. He had long, purple hair with highlights in it, wore eye make-up, and always wore outrageous clothes that nobody would be caught dead in.

"Whoa, those are gorgeous earrings you're wearing!" Julius marveled as he touched Angela's dangling, star-shaped earrings. "I'm so jealous!"

Selena snarled at Angela's sudden attention. "Her earrings aren't so special!"

Selena was an exotic dancer that danced at the bar in Harmonica Town. She wore clothes that exposed her midsection and showed major cleavage. She had bright, red hair and flawless tan skin that could make any girl jealous. She was a gorgeous and developed girl, but her personality was ugly, however.

"Hey, sister! I know fashion when I see it!" Julius argued.

"Whatever…"

"Thanks, Julius," Angela said.

The three practiced and went through the routine. During Angela's twirl, she lost her balance. She slipped and fell right on top of Selena in the middle of her own twirl.

"Watch where you're going!" Selena exploded. "I can't believe an amazing dancer, like myself, is in a group with such a clumsy dancer!"

Angela wasn't very easy to anger, but when it came to her dancing, she was the most dangerous and defensive girl to be around. It didn't matter that she didn't like fighting when it was about something she loved.

Steam raced out of Angela's ears. "It was an accident!" she fumed. "Besides, you're not as amazing as you think!"

"Whatever, you're just a dirty farm girl that nobody likes!"

"I think she's cool," Julius said.

"Shut up, you tranny!" Selena snapped.

"Don't call him that!" Angela screamed. Both of their hands were in tight fists and their bodies were getting dangerously closer and closer.

Julius shook his head and got between the two furious girls. "Okay, girls! Break it up!"

"She started it!" Selena pointed her finger at Angela.

"I don't care who started it. I'll finish it!" Julius threatened. Selena grunted and walked off to complain to the dance instructor, which she did quite often. Angela sat down and tried calming her emotions. Julius sat down next to her. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I think so," she said. "Thank you for sticking up for me. I'm usually not like that at all."

"Eh, Selena makes everybody mad. Actually, I should be thanking you for sticking up for me."

"Oh, it was nothing," she said modestly. "I just don't like it when people call others mean things."

Julius chuckled. "Will you get mad if I call Selena a slut?"

"I actually don't have a problem with that," she said, laughing also.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chase and Molly were in music class. Chase also played the flute, so he sat beside Molly and talked quietly with her while the band director worked with people in the other sections.

"You're pretty good," Chase complimented Molly.

"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself." She looked around the room and noticed a big black piano in the corner of the room. She studied every detail in her vision of its glossy body, making her long to know how to unlock its musical capabilities.

"Molly?"

She shook out of her trance and looked at Chase. "What?"

"Nothing. You started staring over there, and it was kinda freaking me out," he said.

"Oh, sorry. I was just looking at that piano."

"Can you play it as well as you do on the flute?"

"Pssh, I wish! But I found somebody that will teach me though," she said happily.

"Who?"

"Grumpy Gill!" She laughed as she said that.

Chase had a much different expression. His face showed a mixture of worry and shock.

"G-Gill is going to teach you how to play the piano?"

"Yep! We agreed to it yesterday, and I can't wait!" she exclaimed.

Chase gulped. _I__ didn't __think __Gill __would __actually __try __to __win __this __bet__…_

She cocked her head to the side. "Is something wrong, Chase?"

"Oh, n-n-nothing!" he lied. He looked away from her when his lip began to quiver.

"Okay…" Molly said, still not fully convinced.

* * *

The next day after school, Chase and Molly walked together to Ocarina Inn for her first cooking lesson, when Maya ran after them.

"Wait up, guys!" she called.

They turned around. Chase shot his head right back around when he saw Maya rushing towards them. "Oh, Goddess. Just keep walking," he said as he began to walk faster.

Molly grabbed his arm and pulled to halt him. "What? No," Molly protested. "She lives at the Inn doesn't she? We're going there, anyways." She turned back to Maya, who was only a few feet away now. "Hi, Maya! Do you want to walk with us?"

Maya slowed her pace, as she grew closer to them and smiled brightly, showing all of her little teeth. "Sure!"

Chase moaned. Molly pursed her lips and elbowed him on the side. "Be nice," she whispered so that Maya wouldn't hear.

As they walked to the Inn, Molly and Maya didn't stop talking and giggling to each other, much to Chase's dismay. Chase feared the idea of Molly and Maya becoming friends. If Molly became friends with her, then he would be seeing more of Maya than normal.

"Oh! Can you teach me how to cook too?" Maya asked Chase as they entered the Inn's kitchen.

"No," Chase said coldly.

"But why not?" she pouted.

"Because even when you try and listen, you still manage to create poison!"

"C'mon, Chase! I'm sure it's not that bad," Molly said.

He put his apron on. "Trust me, it is."

Maya put her head down gloomily. Molly looked over her with sympathy and put her hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," Molly gently said. "You can cook with us."

"Yahoo!" Maya jumped in the air.

Chase's eyes widened. "What? You can't be serious!"

"Please?" Molly and Maya both gave him puppy dog eyes.

He cringed. "That's not fair…"

"Please?" they repeated, now tugging on his sleeve.

"Okay, fine," he sighed, "but I'm not tasting anything you make!"

"Yaaay!" they cheered and exchanged high-fives.

Chase began flipping through his favorite cookbook until he found a good, simple recipe, tacos. He began pulling out the ingredients and slowly went through the recipe, making sure that Molly and Maya understood what he was doing, especially Maya. Now it was their turn to make the dish. He left the cookbook in the kitchen and waited at a table before Molly and Maya carried their finished dish to him on a tray. Molly placed her dish in front of him and watched him anxiously as he took a bite. He chewed the food for a long time before swallowing to savor the wonderful flavors in his mouth.

"Mmmm, this is really good," Chase said with a satisfied grin. "I told you it wouldn't hurt to try!"

Maya clapped and applauded. Molly's cheeks began to tint themselves with a pink pigment as she giggled. "Now what about mine?" Maya asked excitedly.

"I already told you I'm not eating anything you make."

"What? Then how am I supposed to know if it's good or not?"

"I'll tell you now that it's not."

"…I'll try it," Molly piped up.

"Really? Thank you, Molly!" Maya hugged her.

Chase gasped. "Molly, I'd really rather you not!"

Molly waved her hand. "I'll be fine. I'm confident that it won't be as bad as you make it sound!"

Maya smiled. Molly took a bite of the food while Chase watched in horror. She looked up at the ceiling as she chewed.

"Well?" Maya and Chase leaned in closer, waiting for her to spit out the food.

She swallowed with ease. "I thought it was good," Molly said with a shrug.

Maya acted like a girl that had just been proposed to. She was quite close to crying tears of joy.

Chase's jaw dropped. "W-What?" He couldn't believe what she had just said. "Let me try!" He took a bite and immediately checked his pulse. "I'm alive," he murmured.

"Oh, haha, you're so funny!" Maya said sarcastically.

He continued, "I'm seriously speechless…"

"Congrats, Maya!" Molly said. Suddenly she clamped her abdomen, feeling a sharp ache.

"Molly, are you alright?" Maya asked.

"Y-Yeah…I'm fine," she said, looking for the nearest chair to rest in.

"No, you're not," Chase insisted. "You look terrible."

Molly flinched at another affliction and breathed heavily. "Thanks, that's what…every girl…loves to hear," she joked, even in agony.

Maya pulled her hair and shook her head violently. "I really hope this isn't my fault!"

"Of course it's your fault!" Chase snapped. "She just ate your…food." _Oh, __no__…__I __ate __her __food__ too__…_ "Just help me take her to the Clinic!" he said to Maya.

They carried Molly with one arm around each of their necks. The whole way Molly protested that she was fine, but they didn't listen. Meanwhile, Chase was just waiting until his own painful symptoms would occur.

"Dr. Jin!" Maya called inside Choral Clinic. "We've got another sick one!"

"Another?" Molly repeated in her head. Then, abruptly, she puked on Chase's shoes.

Maya tried her best to not get near the mess and plugged her nose from the horrid smell in disgust.

A man wearing dark framed glasses and a white lab coat rushed out from the backroom to examine a green Molly. He was the town's only doctor and one of the most recent graduates at Harmonica High. He was supposed to be a senior, but he was able to graduate a year early.

"Not again…" He sighed. He organized everything and everyone into the backroom where Molly sat on the edge of a white bed, vomiting into a small trashcan. He called Angela and told her of the situation too. Alarmed Angela dropped what she was doing and rushed to the Clinic. "I'm guessing this is your doing, Maya?"

"Yes…I feel terrible…" Maya looked down.

"We're all certain you didn't intend for this to happen. Don't be hard on yourself… Just try to be more careful."

Chase grimaced and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. "Um…do you have another trashcan?"

"He sort of ate some too…" Maya muttered.

Jin gasped and quickly handed Chase one of the other small trashcans he keeps on the side of all of the beds in the room. Chase then buried his face in it. Maya groaned and lead him to a bed beside Molly's.

Angela pushed open Choral Clinic's blue front door and was shown into the backroom by Irene, Jin's grandmother and assistant. She was immediately by Molly's side, pushing her brown bangs out of her face. "Is she okay?" she asked in a terrified tone.

"She ate some bad food," Jin said. "She and Chase will just have to rest until their bodies cleans it out of their system. I don't expect them to be well enough to go to school tomorrow. Do you mind if she stays here for the night?"

"No, that's fine." Angela rubbed her sister's back and leaned closer to her. "Hey, is that okay with you?"

Molly glanced over at a sick Chase. "Is he staying here too?" she asked weakly.

"It sure looks like it."

"As long as Chase is here to keep me company, then I'll be fine."

"Okay," Angela said, smiling warmly from the sweet comment Molly had just made. "I'll be back here tomorrow after school to check on you."

"Goodnight, Ang."

* * *

**** I would like to take the time to thank Mighty Mutt for his/her suggestion. I really think I will use that! :D**

**I usually thank my reviewers with a direct message but since some were anonymous (Like Mighty Mutt's) I couldn't send them anything.  
Sooo, if you were an anonymous reviewer...THANK YOU! :) ****


	7. Sick to their Stomachs

**** I was supposed to do homework this weekend and I ended up writing this chapter! :) ****

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARVEST MOON!**

* * *

Chapter 7

Gill sat alone the next day in first period due to Chase and Molly's absence. He couldn't help but think that they skipped school together and felt a strange feeling in his gut. He did his work quietly, ignoring the feeling. He felt lonely instead, even though he was usually annoyed by everyone else's babble. Angela and Luke noticed him by himself and offered him to sit with them. Luke wasn't as bad about keeping Angela for himself anymore. He didn't see anybody try anything during lunch the day before, so he figured that Chase and Gill wouldn't try anything ever.

The classroom was quiet as everyone worked on their book assignments. The only sounds to be heard were pencils rubbings on sheets of paper and breathing. Angela couldn't concentrate. She kept wondering if Molly was in pain or not. She didn't want to think about that, but she did.

Angela tapped Luke on the arm. "Luke?" she whispered, careful to not disturb the class.

"Huh? What's up?" he whispered back.

"Do you think you can come with me to visit my sister at the Clinic later today?" she asked.

Gill's head shot up from his work. Luke raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, but what happened?"

"She and Chase ate some of Maya's cooking."

"_I__ guess __that __explains __why __they __aren't __here__…_" Gill thought.

Meanwhile, at the Clinic, Chase and Molly had a chat after a sleepless night. Throughout the night, they woke up randomly to throw up and dry heave. The dry heaves were the worst and made the night very painful and exhausting. And this all happened just by eating some of Maya's food.

"_Never__ again__…_" they both thought.

They still laid on their hospital beds next to their personal trashcans as they talked with weak voices.

"I wonder what we're missing at school," Molly said.

"Hopefully, nothing," Chase said, looking up to the ceiling. "I hate make-up work."

Molly grinned. "I hate work in general." She topped her sentence off with a contagious yawn.

Chase yawned too, making him more tired than he already was. "Did you really have to yawn?" He yawned again, making his eyes water and want to shut.

"Mmmm." Molly felt her eyes getting heavy, and soon, she entered a dream.

* * *

Gill walked a short way home after a long day of school. He went straight to his room and studied a history book in pleasant solitude. Out of nowhere, his bedroom door flew open, slamming against the wall. His father, the mayor, appeared and walked his short body to Gill's side.

"Gill! How was your day, my child?" he asked with animated interest.

"Fine, Father."

"You know, Chase and Molly are at Choral Clinic. You remember Molly, one of the new farm girls, right? She seems like a nice girl! I hear she is single!" He winked.

Gill sighed. "What is with your obsessive search for a future wife for me? Marriage is just waste of time. How can a wife help me become mayor?"

"Because you need support and somebody to take of you in the future. Besides…I would like grandchildren!" he said. "Why don't you stop your studying and visit the Clinic?"

"I'll study."

Hamilton frowned at his son's stubbornness. He looked around the room until he thought of something else to convince him with. "If you don't do this, I will think you aren't being very friendly to our townspeople," he said. Gill's looked up at his father's devious grin. Hamilton continued, "Therefore, I don't think you becoming mayor of Harmonica Town will be such a great idea." Gill slapped his book shut and walked out of the house to the Clinic, cursing under his breath the whole way. Hamilton wiped a tear from his eye. "That's my boy!"

Gill was led to where Chase and Molly were by Irene. Both were asleep, looking serene and free of worry. He took a seat on a chair between their beds, waiting impatiently for one of them to wake up.

After ten minutes of sitting, he heard whimpers and murmurs from Molly. She breathed a bit faster from her mouth as if she was running. "Please…" she said in her sleep. "Come back…"

"Hmph, some dream," Gill said out loud to himself.

She rustled in her bed sheets with a distressed face. "No!" she yelled with a cracked vocal. "Take us back! Take us back! Take us back!"

Her cries took Gill by surprise and made him do what any person would do if they witnessed somebody having a nightmare – wake them up. "Molly, wake up!" He shook her by the shoulders and patted her cheeks until she woke up with a gasp. "Are you okay?" he asked, truly concerned.

Molly blinked her misty eyes several times and rubbed her head. "Yeah, I-I'm fine…"

Gill glanced at Chase and saw him still asleep, not showing signs of waking up any time soon. He sat back in his chair and turned it to face Molly's bed. "Must have been some nightmare," he said. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"No, I'm fine…really," she said, though was she still a little disoriented. She looked around, expecting there be someone else with him but found no one, only a crashed Chase. "So, I've been meaning to ask you something…"

"What?"

"When are you going to teach me how to play piano like you said the other day?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I guess the next time we're both free."

"And when will that be?"

"On Sundays when Town Hall is closed."

"This Sunday then." She smiled and reached over to shake his hand whether or not he approved. "You know, I didn't know you work at Town Hall."

"I'm the mayor's only son and soon-to-be mayor of Harmonica Town. What did you expect?"

"Well, I actually didn't expect you to be related to him in the first place," she laughed.

Gill smirked. "You mean we look different."

"Exactly! I mean, you have bright blond hair and you're tall, and your father has gray hair, and is…well, not tall. And no offense, but he creeps me out to no end."

Gill smiled, actually showing his white teeth. "He is my own father, and he creeps me out too." Molly stared at him, or his mouth to be specific; it was like witnessing a lunar eclipse. "What?"

"You have a nice smile," Molly said. "You should do that more often."

Gill looked down, trying to hide a red face. "Ah…thanks."

Molly giggled. "Are you blushing?"

"W-What? No!" Gill said defensively.

Molly found amusement in his embarrassment. "I think you are!"

"I think you are being ridiculous!" Gill retorted.

Molly continued to giggle. "I think -" She cut herself off suddenly and covered her mouth with one hand and gripped her stomach when she felt a reflex. Fright rushed to her expression, erasing the giggles. "Oh, no..." She urgently gestured to her trashcan.

"Are you going to vomit?" Gill asked with alarm. She frantically nodded, and he immediately picked up the wastebasket and handed it to her. She dry heaved while Gill watched, feeling helpless. Trying to help somehow, he sat next to her and rubbed her back while trying not to inhale the fumes from her puke. She stopped soon and wiped off a bead of sweat from her forehead. "Are you done?" Gill asked, still rubbing her back.

Her body trembled. "Y-Yeah, I think so… Thanks." She reached down to put the trashcan back down on the floor, but Gill sprung up to his feet and grabbed it.

"I'll get that…" He put it back and sat in his chair again. Molly was now lying down in her bed. "Maybe I should go so you can rest…" Gill proposed.

"No, please stay," she begged. "I like your company…"

He blushed lightly and then nodded. "Okay."

"You're blushing again."

"Y-Your illness is just giving you hallucinations!"

Angela was led to the back of the Clinic with Luke. She saw Chase asleep, Molly lying awake in bed, laughing, and Gill sitting at her bedside, blushing.

"Hey, Ang!" Molly said once noticing her.

"Hi, you guys," she said back.

"Is that Gill?" Luke asked in disbelief from behind Angela. Gill groaned when he recognized the voice. Luke walked over to him. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" he grumbled. "I'm visiting."

Luke smirked. He was in the perfect mood and situation to mess with Gill. "Then, why are you blushing?"

"I told you," Molly giggled.

"Yeah, you look like a tomato," Luke snickered. "I guess you are what you eat, huh?"

Gill's face grew more crimson. "I'm going home now," he grunted. He walked to the exit, but stopped before opening the door. "Get well, Molly," he muttered.

"Okay, but make sure you visit again!" Molly called as Gill walked out.

"Yeah! You wouldn't want to disappoint you're girlfriend, would ya?" Luke called out too, hoping Gill could hear him through the walls.

"Girlfriend?" Molly said, trying out the word with a disgusted look.

Angela punched Luke's arm. "Ow," he complained. "Aw, c'mon! You know you were thinking the same thing!"

Angela tried to give him a stern look but couldn't when looking up at Luke's goofy grin. "She isn't his girlfriend," she said, but whipped her head around to Molly when she felt uncertain. "Are you and Gill boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Of course not!" Molly said. "He is the most irritable person I've ever met!"

Luke and Angela chuckled. "You know, you can be moody at times too," Angela said.

Molly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Maybe I overreact…occasionally!"

"Really, now?" Angela sat in the chair Gill was in earlier and made a crooked smile. "Tell me, what did you do when Kasey announced that he was dating your math teacher two years ago?"

"I yelled at him because I hated her, and she was already failing me," she said shrugging her shoulders.

Angela leaned forward and crossed her arms. "And?"

Molly bit her lip. "I…threw a…chair at him…" Luke's jaw dropped and cowered behind Angela. "Well, I had to do something or I'd risk her becoming our sister in-law!" Molly said.

Angela raised an eyebrow. "So, you throw a chair at him?"

"At least I missed!" Molly yelled.

Luke turned around and found Chase still sleeping. "He sure is a heavy sleeper." He was now at Chase's bedside, poking him in the shoulder to try wake him. "Wake up, sicky," he whispered.

"Don't do that! He might need his rest," Angela said. "Right, Molly?"

"Eh, I haven't seen him awake since this morning. Go ahead, and see if he's even alive."

Angela sighed. Luke poked him harder and even slapped him until Chase opened his eyes. "Get up, you lazy bum!" Luke said.

Chase extended his arms to stretch and yawned before saying, "Luke, what are you doing here?"

Angela appeared by Luke's side. "We came to visit."

"Gill was here too, but you were passed out!" Molly complained.

Chase's eyebrows grew closer together. "Why would Gill visit?"

"I don't know. All he did was talk with me until they showed up." She gestured to Angela and Luke.

"Well, that was…nice of him," he hissed. _What __a __sneaky __rat! __He __got __to __her __even__ when __I__ was __here __the __entire __time!_

* * *

Gill walked home with his head bowed down. He kept touching his face with his cold hands to cool down his hot face, but it didn't work. He was still profusely flushed. His father was waiting for him in the living room ever since Gill left. He instantly viewed the redness on Gill's cheeks.

He got excited and started spitting out a million questions that Gill was ready not to answer. "Oh, how did it go? Why are you blushing? Did you finally fall in love with a girl? When can I expect the wedding?"

"I'm not blushing, and there isn't going to be any wedding!" Gill roared.

The mayor ignored him. "Oh, I've been waiting for so long to see this! I better get a camera from Simon to take a picture of this! Don't you dare leave this house!" He bolted his small body out of the house in a flash.

Gill groaned and prayed. _Harvest __Goddess, __why __did __you __have __to __make __him __my __father?_

* * *

**** I'm starting to get into a habit of updating every weekend. Yaaay for scheduled updates! :D  
**

**Thank you for reading and don't forget to review! ****


	8. Almost Summer

**** NOOO, I didn't update last weekend! D: Right when I had a good schedule going for me! At least this chapter is a little longer than the others, but it might be a bit sloppy. :S **

**Oh, hey, did you know that...I DON'T OWN HARVEST MOON? Just thought you should know :P ****

* * *

Chapter 8

The rest of the week dragged slowly by, but not in the bad way. Chase and Molly had fully recovered and were able to go home after the second day in the Clinic. Molly and Angela harvested their crops and foraged until they earned just enough to pay for their house extension. All that was left was to get a few more pieces of stone for the materials. Angela enjoyed the last time she gathered materials with Luke, so she decided to get the remaining pieces in the mine while Molly stayed behind at the farm to take care of the chores.

It didn't take long at all and left Molly bored out of her mind. Trying to find something to do, she walked around town until she ran across Sonata Tailoring. She walked inside and looked around at their cute fabrics, when a short girl with pink pigtails caught her eye. She had on a flowery, yellow dress and decorated her hair with many daisies. The girl looked at her with hatred.

"Hi," Molly said, trying to be friendly. "I don't think I've met you before. I'm Molly." She stuck her hand out to the girl.

She just looked at it and crossed her arms. "I'm Luna. I already know who you are," she grunted.

"You do?"

"Yep. You're the smelly rancher that's been talking to my Gill!"

"Hey! Who are you calling smelly you little twerp!" Molly snapped. _What __is __her __problem?__ I __was __only __trying __to __be __nice!_

Luna snarled. "I'll have you know that I'm a freshman in high school!"

"Yeah, right! You look like you should be in kindergarten!"

"Just stay away from Gill because he is mine," Luna said as she tried to control her anger and not get in trouble with her grandmother, who ran the shop. She turned her back to Molly and walked straight into the other room of the shop.

"What a major brat," Molly muttered as she walked out of the shop. It was safe to say that she was one unsatisfied customer.

Molly continued to follow the street of town and found the Town Hall. She remembered that Gill worked there, so she decided to go in to bug him. Who cares if Luna told her not to hang out with him?

Molly had never been inside Town Hall before. It had a long, wooden counter and separate desks that held stacks of books on top of it. There were many clocks and maps on the wall, and it was so cold that Molly shivered. She spotted Gill behind the counter, concentrating very hard on what he was writing inside of a green book. He didn't even notice Molly walking in, so she decided to scare him. She crept very quietly and yelled when she was close enough.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Gill jumped and fell back in his chair from shock. As he lay on the floor, he rubbed his head; he must have hit it somewhere on the way down. "What the hell was that for?"

"For fun," she giggled. She glanced down at what Gill was writing in the green book and swooped it up to read, "Dear, Diary…" Molly put on an evil grin. _JACKPOT!_ Gill sprung up from the ground and snatched the book out of her hands. "Hey, I was reading that!" she whined as she tried to snatch it back.

Gill held it up as high in the air as he could reach, causing Molly to pout and give up. "Not anymore," Gill said. The word "annoyed" was practically written on his forehead. He picked his chair off the ground and relocated back to where he was and began filling out papers.

"If I was taller…" Molly mumbled as she climbed on top of the counter and laid across it and on top of his papers as if she was about to look up and watch the clouds.

"Get off my desk," Gill said through his teeth.

Molly ignored his command. "I think you're just mad because I was going to read something about your girlfriend," she teased.

His brows pulled together. "What are you talking about?"

"Luna at the Tailor's is your girlfriend isn't she?" she asked. When Gill shook his head, she raised her eyebrows and replied, "Hmm, well she told me to stay away from you like she was jealous or something, so I just figured."

"From the looks of it, you didn't listen to her."

Molly shrugged. "Eh, she'll get over it." Gill smirked slightly. Molly was glad she got Gill to at least smirk from his crabby mood. She started to wonder how angry he could get. "Hey, Gill? Have you ever threw a chair at somebody before?"

Gill looked at her in confusion. "Umm…no."

Molly scratched her head and nervously chuckled. "Yeah, me neither…"

Gill wasn't convinced. "So, whom did you throw the chair at?"

"My brother, Kasey," she said with a sigh. "He made me a little mad."

"A little, huh? Was he hurt?"

"No, I missed him. I wish I hurt him, though." Molly was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as she talked about Kasey, but Gill, however, was strangely interested in knowing more about her family.

"Why didn't he come here with you and your sister?" he asked in curiosity.

"He graduated high school last year. He's in college right now, but I wouldn't doubt it if he was failing." Molly's eyes displayed flames of hurt and anger.

"You look upset," Gill observed.

Molly sat up on the counter and crossed her legs so that she and Gill could properly look each other in the face. "It's just that…he didn't go to college to learn anything or become something. He only went so that he could meet girls and go to great parties." She threw her arms above her head. "I just don't get it! If you're going to do something, shouldn't you do it because you're passionate about it instead of just using it for something else? Oh, and the girls he's always with!" she fumed. The frustration in her tone built up as she went on. "I mean, you can hardly tell the difference between them and five dollar hookers…unless that's what they really were! I wouldn't doubt if they were. Ugh, I just want to knock some sense into that boy!"

Gill wasn't expecting her to go all out in a rant, so he just sat there, not knowing how he could answer what she just said without feeling like an idiot.

Molly sighed. "Make sure you never cross paths with him." She gestured to the suit jacket Gill was wearing and smirked. "I have a feeling you wouldn't get along very well with him."

Gill took a mental note and looked over at a stack of paperwork that needed to be filed.

"I should really get to work," he mumbled.

* * *

Angela raised her hammer high in the air and slammed it down onto a hard boulder to break it into smaller rocks. She wiped her forehead with her hand and sighed deeply. Getting stone wasn't as easy as it looked. She really regretted not asking Luke to help her out now. She went on with smashing rocks until she heard footsteps and saw a glow from the stairs. It was Owen walking down the stairs with a lit lantern in hand and a heavy looking hammer over his shoulder.

He saw Angela and raised a brow in pleasant surprise. "Hey, Angela," he greeted. "I wasn't expecting you to be here! I'm actually more surprised that you aren't with Luke for once."

Angela chuckled. "If I knew mining alone was this hard, he probably would be here!"

It turned out that Owen went to the mine to gather ores for Ramsey. They both talked to each other as they hammered on their own rocks and boulders.

Owen spread a severely crooked grin on his face. "So, I was talking to Luke the other day…" he said as casually as he could.

Angela swung her hammer once more and smashed a rock before answering, "Oh, yeah? What about?"

"Well, it turns out that he really likes you." He watched Angela's face for an embarrassing and hilarious reaction.

She smiled. "Well, I would hope so. We're like best friends now," she said proudly.

Owen facepalmed himself. "I think he likes you just a bit more than that," he hinted. Angela narrowed her eyes while an imaginary question mark appeared over her head. Owen rolled his eyes. "Angela, the guy is love with you!"

"W-What!" Her entire face became blood red.

Owen laughed when he found the reaction he was looking for. "Yeah, just don't tell him I told you!"

Angela was still stunned with thoughts rushing in and out of her brain. _Luke__ isn't __in __love __with __me._ _He's __my__friend.__ Wait, __why __am __I __blushing? __Stop __blushing!_

Owen's face fell slightly. "Oh…I hope I didn't damage your friendship with him or anything. I thought you…" he trailed off.

Angela shook her head frantically and hurriedly scooped up her stuff into her rucksack. "N-N-No, I'm fine! I have to feed my cow." She rushed out of the mine, leaving Owen to feel a mixture of confusion and guilt – guilt from telling her something she probably shouldn't have heard and confusion from the random mention of a cow.

She walked quickly on the path out of Garmon Mines when she saw Luke wave to her as he carried a pile of logs in his arms. They were in danger of slipping out of his arms, but he waved with his usual goofy grin anyways. Angela groaned. He was the last person she wanted to see. She walked past him and resisted the urge to stop and talk to him. She didn't know how she should have felt after knowing what Owen told her.

Luke's grin fell when Angela sped right past him without even a wave. _Did__ I __make __her __mad?_

* * *

Molly left Gill to his paperwork and walked on the path to Chase's house. She needed Chase to relieve her boredom since Gill started to get serious and complain about how she was distracting him from his work.

As she came close to Chase's house, she caught eye of the lovely Anissa exiting Marimba Farm. Anissa was the daughter of Ruth and Craig and also a senior at Harmonica High. She had long, healthy, brunette hair, smooth skin that always had a gentle glow, and a beauty mark bestowed on her right cheekbone. Her eyes were a pretty pinkish-purple color that was definitely the cherry on top of her soft feature. To Molly, Anissa symbolized pureness and natural beauty.

Anissa waved and gave a pleasant smile. "Hello, Molly. How are you today?"

"I'm great! I'm just on my way to Chase's," Molly said, returning the smile. "Hey, do you think you guys have any more grass and strawberry seeds? I should really get some while I'm in the area!"

"I'm sure we have what you need, but I strongly suggest you not buy any strawberries. Just grass," she said.

Molly frowned. "Why not?"

"Well, spring is almost over with, so I don't think there is enough time for you to grow and harvest another batch," she explained in her soft voice. "You should wait until summer comes before you plant more so you don't waste your hard-earned money."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that summer is only a week away." Molly rubbed her chin thoughtfully and gasped in unexpected excitement. "Does that mean school is almost over with? Man, that was fast!"

Anissa chuckled. "Well, you only arrived in the middle of the season. It was bound to be fast!" She then took on a sorrow expression that didn't look right on her, and she sighed. "It's too bad that this is my last year in school. I'm going to miss it…"

"Are you kidding me? You'll finally be free of grades and teachers!"

Anissa sighed. "Sure, but I can't help but fear that my life will feel empty without having to worry about my grades. Plus, I'm quite sad that my childhood and adolescence has come to an end…"

Molly putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Aw, cheer up! Just only think on the bright side of it! So, you're not a kid anymore, but at least you're now an adult where you can do more things, have more freedom in life, and people will take you more seriously than before!"

Anissa lit up. "I didn't think about it like that. Thank you very much, Molly!"

"Don't worry about it," Molly shrugged with a smile. "And I better not see you sad or worried ever again. It looks horrible on your complexion!"

Anissa giggled. "Well, I'll talk to you another time. I have to deliver some herbs to Jin and Irene."

Molly said her goodbye and stopped by Marimba Farm to buy some grass seeds for Brownie to graze on when it's grown up enough to be let out free on the plot. Molly hated taking care of grass since it took up valuable plot space that could have been used to plant crops.

Molly loved working in the field, tending to her garden of strawberries. She preferred them over the other spring crops. Strawberries looked cute, tasted sweet, and didn't go away after being harvested, saving money that she and Angela needed. It was too bad she had to soon move on to another crop she would then claim her favorite summer crop. She would have to ask Anissa which crops she recommended next time she was to see her.

Molly quickly purchased a few bags of grass seed and walked a short distance to Chase's front door. She knocked and tackled Chase to the floor when he opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" Chase asked while laughing.

"I'm bored, Chase! Entertain me!" Molly said playfully.

"First you have to get off me!"

She giggled. "Right." Molly helped him up off the ground. "So, what are you doing?"

Chase brushed dust and dirt off his apron. "I was just cooking random stuff. Do you want to help?"

"Sure. It'll be like another cooking lesson!"

"Minus getting rushed to the Clinic," Chase added.

He moved to a small dresser in his living room, pulled out a purple apron, and handed it to her. Molly smiled at the deep color. She slipped it on and had Chase tie the strings at the back before they began to make a chocolate cake.

Chase didn't know how to come across what he wanted ask Molly. He wanted to do it casually, but he didn't know a way to do it. Every scene he imagined in his head seemed awkward or unrealistic.

"Molly, I want to ask you a question…and you need to be completely honest with me."

She was digging through Chase's bottomless fridge for ingredients. "Sure, go ahead," she said with her head still buried in the refrigerator.

Chase was stirring the batter much slower now and didn't take his eyes off the mixture when he spoke. "What do you think of Gill?"

Molly poked her head out of the fridge to reveal furrowed eyebrows and a smirk. "Wasn't expecting that one." She closed the fridge and dropped off several ingredients to the counter next to Chase. "Well, I guess he's sweet whenever he isn't in a grumpy mood, which I guess isn't very often. He gets annoyed easily, so it's pretty fun to mess with him." She chuckled, making Chase slightly more relaxed. "Why do you ask?"

He shook his head. "Oh, uhh, j-just curious."

"Okay…" Molly looked at him suspiciously, wondering why he seemed nervous. She cracked two eggs into the bowl and started measuring half a cup of milk.

Chase was still keeping his eyes only on what was inside of the big bowl. "So, he's going to give you a piano lesson tomorrow, huh?" He could taste the jealousy on his tongue.

"Yep. I've wanted to learn how to play for as long as I can remember."

Chase's mouth formed a straight line. "Can't you just skip the lesson and learn by yourself?"

Molly's mouth imitated Chase's. "Because I wouldn't know how to teach myself. I've always had a teacher to guide me and make sure I'm doing everything right." Chase didn't say anything else. He wanted to somehow talk Molly out of being around Gill, but he couldn't figure out a successful way. "Is something wrong with me having Gill as my teacher?" Molly asked, slightly irate.

"I just don't want you to be around Gill…"

"I thought you guys were friends?" Molly pursed her lips and shook her head when Chase refused to answer. She was really trying to not explode on him. It was one thing to argue with Gill, but with Chase? She didn't want to damage her friendship with him, but she wanted to make her point made. She muttered, "You can't tell me who I can and can't hang out with…"

Chase glanced away from his bowl of batter and his eyes got wide when he viewed Molly's tense expression. "Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"To be honest, a little. Why don't you want me around Gill?"

Chase paused and blushed. "I can't say…"

What little patience Molly had was dangerously running low. "Why not?"

"It's…private."

Molly rolled her eyes and started untying her apron. "Whatever. I have to go now."

Chase gasped. "Wait, don't leave because you're mad at me. We can talk about something else!"

She shook her head. "I'm not mad at you," she grumbled. "I have to get back and plant grass for Angela." She threw the apron on top of the dresser it came from and walked out the front door, slamming it shut behind her.

Chase sighed. _And__ she __thinks __Gill __gets __mad __easily__…_

Molly went home and planted the grass like she said she would. When finished, she saw Angela walk down the path from Garmon Mines with her arms crossed and went straight inside their house. Molly followed her and found her laying on her bed in their room, underneath the pink comforter.

"Are you having a bad day too?" Molly asked.

Angela poked her head out of the cover and nodded. "Mhm, but you first."

Molly sat next to Angela. "Chase said he didn't want me around Gill, so I got mad at him…"

"I thought you didn't like Gill?"

Molly grew a little pink. "Well, he can be cool if he wasn't always crabby…but that's not my point! Chase isn't allowed to say who I'm allowed to talk to!" She sighed. "So, what happened to you?"

Angela buried herself back under her blanket and spoke, her voice too muffled to be understood.

"Ang, I can't hear you when you're under the cover!" Molly lifted the blanket off of her and said, "Now, what did you say?"

Angela said softly, "Owen said Luke is in love with me…"

Molly smiled gently. "And that's a bad thing?"

"But we're best friends, Molly! Best friends aren't supposed to be in love with each other, otherwise we would be dating!"

Molly paused. "Then, what's stopping you and Luke? I can tell you like each other. Maybe it's not love, but it's something."

"Where is this coming from?"

"What do you mean? I'm trying to give you advice!"

Angela smiled. "Yeah, but it's actually good."

"Hey, are you saying my advice is always bad?" Molly said, playfully pretending to be insulted.

Angela laughed. "Hey, I'm almost done gathering the materials for the upgrade," Angela said.

"Thank, Goddess! No offense, but I really miss having my own room."

"Me too. I think I can get just enough and put in the order tomorrow."

"Woo!" Molly got up on her feet and did a silly dance that made Angela giggle.

Suddenly, they heard a ring from the living room – the telephone.

"I bet it's Mom and Dad!" Angela said with excitement.

It had been weeks since the girls talked to their parents, and they missed them terribly.

"I've got it!" Molly sang. They both raced to the phone. Molly picked it up. "Hello?"

Angela watched Molly listen into the phone and frowned when Molly's giddy character disappeared. "W-What's wrong? Who is it?"

Molly rolled her eyes and handed it to her. "You can talk to him," she grumbled.

Confused, Angela put the phone to her ear and talked into the other end. "H-Hello?"

"Angie, is that you? Listen, what is the island you're at called again?" The voice was loud and obnoxious, making Angela have to pull the phone a few inches away from her ear.

Angela's eyes widened. "K-Kasey?"

"That's right, little sister!"

* * *

**** Say hello to Angela and Molly's brother, Kasey! :D**

** I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review! :) ****


	9. Welcome, Kasey!

**** Here's the new chapter! This one came earlier much than expected. I hope you like it!  
**

**Ideas are popping out from every where! Of course you guys can suggest a few as well!  
I love the suggestions y'all have given me through PM and if I haven't used yours yet...don't worry! I'm just waiting for the right moment! :D ****

* * *

Chapter 9

Molly walked to Gill's home and knocked on its big, blue door. She waited patiently as she heard Gill's voice yell faintly from the other side. The door flew open to reveal Hamilton's short body.

"Molly!" he said cheerfully. He grabbed her arm and tugged her inside the house where Gill was dusting off his clothes and smoothing his neat hair as he swore under his breath. "Come in, come in! Oh, my Gill has been so anxious about today. I can tell he likes you! Just look at him straighten himself out for you. My boy is finally growing up!"

Molly laughed uncontrollably and had to hold on to her knees in order not to fall over.

Gill turned red. "I'm doing this because you pushed me to the ground in order to answer the door first!"

"Oh, look at that mean blush! Last time he blushed like that was when he visited you at the Clinic. Oh, I still have the photo I took that day!"

"Father!" Gill snapped.

Hamilton ignored him. "I'll be back in a flash!" He ran out of the room and came back within seconds with a white picture frame. He laughed and handed it to Molly.

Molly observed it and couldn't help but laugh even harder. It looked like the picture was shot in the same room they were in. It showed Gill trying to block the camera's lens with a scarlet face.

"Oh, man!" Molly said, still laughing. "You've gotta make me a copy of this!"

"Okay, that's it!" Gill grabbed Molly's arm and dragged her into his room, an anti-Hamilton zone. He sighed in relief. He snatched the photo from Molly's hand and put it safely inside his desk drawer.

Molly looked around Gill's plain room and saw a blue bed, wooden vanity, a dresser of the same type of wood, and a bookshelf that was overpopulated with literature. He had so many books that he made piles on the ground beside the shelf.

"You've read all of these?" Molly asked in astonishment.

"Maybe not two or three," Gill said, unaware of how much reading that was to someone that rarely picked up a book by their own free will.

"Oh, I found your diary!" Molly took the green book out of the bookshelf.

Gill grunted and snatched his diary like he did the day before. "Sheesh! It's like you and my father are entertained by any and every thing that can possible embarrass me!" He put it in the dresser drawer with the picture frame.

Molly giggled. "You got me!" She took a second look around his room and turned to him. "So, where is the piano?"

"We'll have to use the one inside of the school. That's the one I always use."

"But the school is – " She was then cut off when Gill tossed her a silver key. "Never mind."

They walked next door to the school where they unlocked the door and settled themselves in the music room. Molly went straight to the glossy piano and started pressing its keys. Hearing its sound made her smile grow more and more. Gill smirked at how easily amused she was.

* * *

Angela carried her hammer on her shoulder this time as she made her way to Fugue Forest. She always saw Luke do it, so she thought that she would try it out too. He said it was much more comfortable that way, and it was; more so than it was by simply carrying it in her rucksack. She didn't know why she chose to go to Fugue Forest for the rest of her stone. The forest was dark and terrifying. She could've easily gone to the mine again to get the rest of her stone, but then she would've felt defeated by the forest.

"Wait up!" she heard from behind her.

Speak of the devil.

"H-Hey, Luke…" She stopped to wait on Luke to catch up with her.

"Are you going to the forest?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Awesome!" He jumped up in the air. "I have to get lumber there today. We can go together!"

"Oh okay," she said rather shy and reluctantly.

Angela still didn't know how to act around Luke after what Owen told her. Could it have been true? Angela started to see Luke in a new, unfamiliar light after what Owen said sunk into her brain. The thought of being near him started to make her heart beat, which said a lot for when she was actually near him. Why were all of these new feelings creeping up on her so suddenly?

"_What's__ wrong __with __me? __He's __my __friend__…__"_ Angela thought to herself while sitting on the ground. She had already collected all of the stone she needed. Luke was chopping down yet another tree trunk. The tree fell over and crashed to the earth, making Luke involuntarily celebrate with a fist pump over his head.

He hollered, "Yeeaahh!" He turned around and saw Angela staring at the dirt below her. His grin faded. _Why__ is __she __being __so __quiet? __She's __been __acting __weird__… _"Hey, are you okay?" Luke asked.

Angela shot her head up and gave him a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I was just thinking."

Luke rested his heavy axe on his shoulder and sighed with relief. "That's good. I thought I was boring you!"

She chuckled and shook her head. "I don't think that's possible."

He sat on the ground next to Angela. "So, what were you thinking about?"

She paused for a moment to grip her chest and said what she was feeling. "Have you ever had your heart beat uncontrollably when you're around a certain person?"

Luke muttered, "You have no idea…" A light blush appeared on him that was almost unnoticeable from his tan face. "It's actually happening…right now."

Angela almost gasped. "Me too…" She avoided eye contact because of her embarrassment.

Luke looked at her with disbelief. "R-Really?" He turned his head in every direction, but couldn't find another soul in a close radius. "Who are you talking about?" he asked, completely blind and fearful of who she was talking about.

"He's…a good friend of mine and has…weird colored hair," she hinted shyly.

Luke crossed his arms and thought, _"Good __friend __and __weird __colored__ hair__… __Who __the __heck__ is __that?"_ Luke groaned, "Can you give me another hint?"

Angela sat there, stunned. "He has yellow cat-like eyes…"

Luke bit his lip. "This is hard!" he whined.

She facepalmed. _Is __he_ _serious?_ "He is sitting right next to me!"

Luke's eyes widened. His blush became visible. "Wait, that's me!" She nodded and choked out a laugh. Luke looked at her with crooked grin. He leaned closer. "So, that means you're in love with me," he said teasingly.

Angela gaped. "I-I wouldn't s-say l-love!" she stuttered. Luke chuckled, causing Angela to turn even redder. "W-What about you! Who were you talking about?"

Luke didn't show any signs of nervousness or shyness when asked that; he was confident. Why would he be nervous when he knew about how she felt about him?

"She has pretty, brown hair," he began. His smile grew as he described Angela. "She has these huge brown eyes – "

"You better not be talking about my sister." Angela joked. She was smiling so wide that it was hurting her face.

Luke looked her straight in her honey brown eyes, sometimes getting lost in them. "Angela, I've been crazy about you since I first saw you at school. Your probably the most interesting thing to actually happen there."

"Luke," she whispered. "I've never seen this side of you."

"Me neither."

She looked into his wild, yellow eyes. They held a hidden softness that Angela hadn't noticed before. She found herself leaning towards him, tilting her head. Right when their lips were only a few centimeters shy, the faces of Chase and Gill rushed though Luke's mind. He turned his face the other way, making Angela kiss his cheek instead.

"_This __isn't __right,"_ Luke thought to himself.

Angela looked at him worriedly. "What's wrong?"

Luke sighed. "Can we just…take this slowly?" he asked in a quiet voice. She opened her mouth to say something, but she quickly shut it and nodded instead. Luke stood up. "Thanks, Ang. I got enough lumber. Do you want to head outta here? I know how you don't like the forest and all."

She nodded. "I have to order our house upgrade, anyway." She was helped off the ground when Luke offered his hand. The feel of his leather glove on her palm made her heart skip a beat.

A million thoughts were bouncing all around her bewildered head. Most of them she shouldn't have been thinking, but she did anyways. Why did he really stop her from kissing him? She didn't believe Luke when he said he wanted to take it slow; Luke wasn't the kind of person to want to take anything slowly. He thought life was too short to be slow. Did Angela do something wrong? _"Maybe __he __doesn't __actually __like __me __like __he __and __Owen__ said. __Maybe __he __just __didn't __want __to __hurt __my__ feelings__…__"_ Angela second-guessed. She couldn't figure out a better reason for why he rejected her kiss.

Luke walked her to the farm to pick up her money and materials. Then they went to the Carpentry. During their walk, he thought hard about what had just happened. He couldn't let her kiss him – he couldn't let himself win the bet. The thought of winning the bet now made him feel dirty. There was no point in participating in the bet anymore. He had already proven to himself that he had a chance with Angela. He really did want to kiss her, though. It was so hard for him to resist her even while they walked together, hand in hand. He replayed his entire conversation with Angela in his mind and mentally pressed the pause button. Abruptly, he said, "Wait a second…I don't have weird hair!"

Once at the Carpentry, Angela placed her order and was finally introduced formally to Dale, Luke's father. He was hefty and had a husky laugh. Dale was very friendly to her and enjoyed her company. He took every opportunity he got to tease Luke and make Angela laugh. Angela laughed a lot. She knew Dale was going to soon become a father figure to her just by that one visit, especially since she never had the chance to really know her own father very well.

Bo was there too. Angela learned about how Bo considered Dale like a father to him and Luke like a brother. She thought it was funny how different Luke and Bo were and still managed to be best friends.

After an hour of talking with the carpentry crew, Angela looked at the time and proclaimed that she had to leave.

"I have to meet my brother, Kasey, at the dock soon," she explained when they asked why.

Bo and Luke waved their arms in the air frantically. "Can we go? Can we go?" they asked as if they were hyperactive children.

Angela laughed softly and said, "Sure."

They high-fived each other. Okay, maybe they were a little alike sometimes. They walked together to the dock. Luke's hand kept bumping into Angela's until she finally caught on to what he was doing and held his hand. Bo smiled at the sight, but it was short-lived when he thought about a certain person that didn't even know he existed.

The boat wasn't at the dock when they got there, so they waited on the pier, throwing rocks into the sea until the ship came into view. Pascal, the captain, anchored it when close enough and lowered a ramp the passengers could walk on.

Kasey got off the boat with two suitcases in hand. The sight of him after so long made Angela briefly go into shock. His brown hair was longer and almost completely hid his brown eyes.

Luke and Bo kept looking back and forth at Angela and Kasey, gaping at how identical they looked. He was basically an older, male version of Angela and Molly.

"Hey, sis! It's been a while, huh?" Kasey said, walking up to Angela. "So, where's Molly?

"She's with a friend. She didn't want to come by here, anyways…"

Kasey nodded slowly. "Ahh, still mad, is she?"

"Is he talking about when she threw a chair at him?" Luke asked Angela.

Bo's eyes widened and mumbled, "I'm never going to get on Molly's bad side…"

Angela shook her head. "I'll tell you later," she told Luke.

Kasey smirked at the memory mentioned. He glanced down at Angela and Luke's hands. "So, you finally got a boyfriend? Thank, Goddess! I was starting to think you were going to end up as a nun or something!"

Angela flushed. "Kasey, please!"

"Someone's embarrassed!" Kasey chuckled while Angela pouted. Kasey shook hands with Bo and Luke. "What's up, guys? The name's Kasey." Bo and Luke stated their names. Kasey then elbowed Luke's arm lightly. "I can tell we're gonna get along, dude. But if ya try anything with my sister, I'll skin ya!"

Luke swallowed hard in reaction to Kasey's sugarcoated threat. Angela sighed.

They all walked from Harmonica Town to the farm together. When they made it there, Luke and Bo waved goodbye and headed north, back to the Carpentry. Angela gave Kasey the grand tour of the farm and inside the house too. When they finished the tour, Molly entered the house and glared at Kasey, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"You're here already?" Molly asked curtly.

Kasey sighed. "You still can't be mad at me…"

Molly raised her eyebrows. "Yes, I can."

"Angie here didn't get mad like this."

"Ang never gets mad."

"Maybe you just get mad too easily."

"I'm getting mad right now!" Molly said through her teeth.

"Oh, please! If anybody should be mad, it should be Mom and Dad."

"You dropped out of high school to run off with a stripper - "

"Dancer," Kasey corrected.

" – And left us with two pissed off parents! We had to take the heat because you weren't there!" Molly screamed.

"I bet that's why they sent us here…"Angela choked out. Her vision was getting blurry from tears.

Molly and Kasey gasped. Molly immediately ran over to hug her sister in attempt to console her. She spoke gently, "I told you already, Ang. They sent us here because they thought the city was bad for us. They wanted us to have a better life here."

Kasey felt a load of guilt on his shoulders. He wanted to say something, but he kept quiet, afraid he would say something to make things worse.

"No, they didn't," Angela said with a raspy voice. "Face it, Molly! They don't want us anymore! Why do you think they sent us here or still haven't sent us the money they said they were gonna send? They haven't even called or visited us since we've been here!"

Molly shook her head in denial. What Angela was saying was starting to sink into her skin, but she tried as hard as she could to push it away. She swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked the invading tears away. She wanted to believe her own parents wouldn't do anything like that to them. "So…we haven't heard from them in a while…but that doesn't mean they don't love us anymore. I highly doubt they would stop loving us because of what Kasey did…"

"Yes, they would… They'd rather push us away than watch one of us do something to disgrace them again!"

Molly turned to Kasey and mouthed, "Help me out here!"

Kasey hesitated, but then said, "Hey, Ang, if you want, we all can go out to eat at that bar we walked past earlier. We promise we won't fight at all!"

Molly shot him a look, but she took it back quickly when she saw that it seemed to calm Angela down a little. Angela sniffled. "You guys really promise you won't fight?"

Molly sighed. "We promise. Just please don't cry anymore. It's torture to see you like that…"

Angela cracked smiled and wiped her tears off her cheeks. "Thanks, guys."

* * *

The siblings waited a whole hour to make sure Angela was okay before going to the bar; they didn't want her going in public with stained cheeks. It was close to night when they found a table at Brass Bar.

Kasey whistled and looked over Kathy, who was working as a waitress. "Wow, you sure have some women on this island. I might just have to stay here permanently!"

Molly rolled her eyes. "Good luck, player. She has a boyfriend that could break you like a toothpick."

Angela chuckled when Kasey flinched. "That reminds me, why are you here in the first place?" Angela asked. "I mean, I'm happy to see you and all, but it's just that we haven't seen you in so long…"

Kasey drank the rest of his cocktail. "To make the story short, I got fired from my job. Cherry, A.K.A. "The Stripper," broke up with me when I told her, and she ran off with some lawyer." His voice cracked. "You can imagine why I didn't go back home to live with Mom and Dad. So, instead of telling them about what happened, I told them I got some vacation time and wanted to visit you two. And now here I am! I'm broke, homeless, have no girlfriend, and now I'm begging my little sisters to let me stay with them."

Angela showed sympathy. "You want to live with us?"

Molly crossed her arms. "I don't know…"

Kasey responded hurriedly. "Just until I get back on my feet again! And I can help you guys on your farm too so that I'm not just mooching! Please, I don't know where else to go…"

Angela faced Molly. Her face said, "Please?"

Molly sighed in clemency. "Fine."

Kasey lit up. "Oh, man, thank you! You guys are the best little sisters ever!" he exclaimed. "You know what? I'm covering for dinner tonight."

"Kasey, I thought you said you didn't have any money?" Angela said.

Kasey smirked and waved his hand for Kathy to go over to their table. "You guys have tabs?"

Molly gasped. "KASEY!"

Kathy smiled. "We sure do!" She turned to the twins. "I'll just let the three of y'all share one, seeing that this tall drink of water is with y'all. Do you need more drinks?"

"Give me two more grape cocktails," Kasey said. Angela bit her lip.

"Alrighty, then. I think you're going to become my new favorite drinker!" Kathy turned on her heel and went to talk to Hayden at the cash register.

Kasey smirked. "She digs me."

"You better not try any funny business here like you do at home," Molly warned.

"Yeah…you wouldn't want to get in a fight with Owen," Angela said.

"Okay, fine… I'll back off."

Kathy delivered the cocktails, which Kasey chugged down. Out of nowhere, the bar was filled with music. Kasey turned around to the stage to locate the source and saw Selena dancing.

"Crap, I forgot she works here," Angela mumbled.

Kasey's jaw was dropped to the ground. He couldn't pry his eyes away from Selena's body as she shook her hips and shimmied. "Does she have a boyfriend that would murder me?" He didn't even look away to ask that.

"No," Angela snapped, "because she's a rude, dirty sk –" She stopped when Kasey stood up from their booth table to approach Selena. Angela growled.

Molly smile was caused by amusement and amazement of the scene. "She must be horrible if even you don't like her." Molly could see Selena fueling a blaze in Angela's pupils.

"She irritates me," Angela said in a low voice.

"Well, it looks like she's interested in our Kasey." Molly and Angela crept closer to get a better view.

"I'm so glad you liked my dance!" Selena clapped her hands.

Kasey chuckled smoothly. "Who wouldn't love a dance like that from a beautiful girl like you?"

Angela gagged. Molly tried hard not to burst from laughter.

Selena smiled broadly. She was obviously enjoying Kasey's flood of compliments. "Hmm, straight forward. I like that in a man. You want to buy me a drink?"

"Hey, Kathy!" Kasey called. "I need three blueberries and an olive over here!"

"He's going to get drunk…" Angela and Molly said in perfect unison.

And Kasey did. He showed the usual symptoms: slurred words, lack of balance, overly emotional behavior, and the body's urge to vomit.

"Kaathhy!" Kasey called again. "Smmoree grraape!" Selena giggled uncontrollable while she was rubbing Kasey's chest.

Angela and Molly ran over to Kathy, who was hesitatingly making another cocktail. "Don't bother. We're taking him home now," Molly said.

"Sorry about our brother." Angela added.

"Thank you!" Kathy whispered.

Molly pulled Kasey's ear and dragged him out of the bar while Angela tried to make sure he didn't fall over on the pavement.

"Owww! Daat huuurrtss!" Kasey complained.

"Well, you shouldn't have gotten yourself drunk like an idiot!" Molly scolded him.

Kasey was hauled against his will until they made it to the inside of the farmhouse. Molly dropped him off on the couch and Angela gave him a blanket. Kasey looked at the blanket like it was the most amazing thing on the planet.

He rubbed it on his cheek. "It's sooo SOFT! Can keeeep it, Angie?"

"No, and you better not puke on it!"

Kasey hiccuped and gestured for the girls to come closer. "Yooou guys are soooo nice to me!" he whispered obnoxiously.

Molly whispered back with a sweet smile, "Wait until you have your hangover."

* * *

****Hahaha! I love writing about drunk people. xD**

**Thank you reading and don't forget to press that gorgeous button below to review! ****


	10. Oranges for his Birthday

**** I was going crazy last week because the website wouldn't let me update. It has been pulling up an error page for about a week now.  
Special thanks to xXemmaliesXx for helping me out, though! If she didn't teach me how to get past the error page, well...this chapter wouldn't be posted!  
Feel free to ask for help if you're currently having the same problems. We don't know how to make a new story, but we do know how you can edit your stories.**

**Anyways, here is chapter 10! ****

* * *

Chapter 10

Molly yawned when she entered the living room. She looked to see Kasey curled up on the couch, snoring loudly. She nudged him with her foot to wake him up. Kasey moaned when waking up and immediately started to complain about his head hurting. His hangover was taking effect. Molly took advantage of it.

"Good morning, Kasey!" she said in her loud, obnoxious voice. She opened the curtains, letting in bright beams of sunlight into the house. Kasey cringed and shielded his eyes with a blanket. Molly pulled the blanket off of him and hollered, "What's wrong, Kasey? A little sun can wake you up!"

Kasey covered his ears and closed his eyes tightly. "You're torturing me!"

Molly smiled in pleasure. "Good! Maybe this could convince you not to drink and to get your life together."

Kasey was getting annoyed. "I am getting my life together."

Molly's eyebrows got high and got serious. "Dropping out of school is getting your life together?"

Kasey rolled his eyes. "You're forgetting that I went back to high school last year to finish it."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about college. You must've dropped out if you're here right now."

Kasey looked away from Molly to stare at the ceiling. He muttered, "I couldn't afford it after I lost my job… Besides, I was failing anyways, so what was the point?"

Molly grew quiet. Maybe she was being a bit too harsh on him. It seemed that Kasey was making an effort to get back up on his feet again. She felt bad now for jumping on him so much.

"Look, I'm sorry. I know you're trying… I'm just being a jerk. I should be glad you aren't just giving up on life."

He nodded. "You know, I want to go back to college when I get myself together again. And this time I'm not gonna fail my classes!"

Molly smiled. "That's good."

Molly closed the curtains back and finished getting ready for school. She grabbed a piece of toast and headed out the door with Angela after she gave Kasey a tall glass of water.

"Remember to drink lots of water for that hangover," Angela told Kasey.

* * *

It was another day of doing bookwork in their first period class. Hayden was extremely far behind on grading papers, due to procrastination, so he ordered the class to answer questions from their history book. It enabled him not have to teach and so that the room was quiet enough for him to work in peace. All grades had to be submitted by the end of the day since the school year was coming to a closing. Once the grades were organized, the front office would make the class rank list and determine the students' GPA. The students were very eager to know their GPA and class rank.

There was no doubt about it; Gill was number one in his class. He always was. He was too brainy not to get the highest rank and perfect GPA. For that reason, he never worried about getting a bad grade. He didn't know about Molly, Chase, or Angela, but he knew for certain that Luke wasn't near the top of the list. He glanced over at Molly and Chase passing a note back and forth. He couldn't help but get annoyed.

Chase scribbled down his reply to Molly. _"I __really __am__ sorry__… __Please__ don't __be __mad __with __me__ anymore!"_

Molly sighed before writing down her answer. _"Okay,__ I'm__ not__ mad__ anymore,__ but __you __can't __tell __me__ who __I __am __and__ not __aloud __to __talk __to."_

"_Fine,__ I'm __just __glad __you're __not __mad __at __me. __So, __how__ was __your __piano __lesson, __anyways?"_

Molly smiled. _"It__ was__ awesome! __Gill __showed __me __a __bunch __of __chords __that __sound__ so __cool! __I'll __show __you __when __we __get __to __the __music __room. __How __was __your__…__yesterday?"_

"_I__ had__ to__ teach__ the__ brilliant__ Maya__ how__ to__ cook.__ I__ don't__ understand__ how__ she__ can __be__ so__ terrible__ when__ her__ grandmother,__Yolanda,__ is__ one__ of__ the__ best__ chefs__ around._"

"_You're__ so __harsh __on __her! __And__ if __you __don't __like __teaching __her, __then __why __did __you __agree __to __do __it __in __the __first __place?"_

"_Because__ Yolanda__ personally__ asked__ me__ to__ tutor__ Maya.__ How__ the__ heck__ am__ I__ supposed__ to__ refuse__ when__ Yolanda__ is__ my__ mentor?__It __sucks!__I __don't __want __to __risk __upsetting __her __and __not __be __able __to __study __under __her."_

"_Hmm,__ I__ guess__ I__ get__ what __you're __saying. __Hey, __do __you __want __to __hang __out __later __today?__ I__ can __stop __by __the __Bar __tonight __while __you're__ there."_

"_Oh,__ I__ actually__ have__ the__ day__ off __tonight."_

Molly was puzzled. _"But__ the__ Bar__ is__ never __closed __at __night. __Why __aren't __you __working?"_

"_Hayden __gave __me__ the __day__ off __for __my __birthday."_

"IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY?" Molly absentmindedly yelled out loud. She received a few strange looks and snickers from the other classmates, including a suspicious glare from Gill. Molly cleared her throat from the embarrassment and wrote, _"It's __your __birthday?"_She tried to make her writing seem much more calm than her outburst.

Chase silently chuckled. _"Smooth."_

"_Are__ you __sure __it's __your __birthday?__ Maybe __you __just __lost __track __of __what __day __it __is."_

"_Molly,__it's__ Spring__23rd.__ I__ think__ I__ would__ know__ when__ my __own__ birthday__ is."_

"_Why__ didn't __you __tell __me__ it __was__ your __birthday?__ How __am__ I__ supposed__ to__ get __you __a __present __in __such __short __notice?"_

Chase shrugged. "_I__ didn't __want__ to__ make__ a__ big__ deal__ out__ of__ it.__ To __me,__ it's__ just__ another__ day.__ I__ don't__ even__ want__ the__ presents._"

"_Well,__ you're __still __getting__ a __present__ from__ me!_" Molly drew a smiley face. Chase smiled, knowing that Molly actually wanted to get him a gift. He didn't really want any gifts, but it was flattering to know that someone wanted to make his birthday the slightest bit important.

He looked over at another table and saw Luke trying to land a spitball on Hayden. Angela was trying to stop him, but at the same time, she was desperately attempting to hold in her laughter. Chase turned back to the note and wrote, _"Looks __like __they're __having __fun."_ He nodded at the couple.

Molly giggled quietly. _"I __think __Angela __told __me__ they're __dating __now."_

Chase's eyes became rounder and hesitated in his reply. _"Are __you __serious?"_

"_Yep!__ As __of __yesterday._"

He looked back at the happy couple. Chase predicted that Luke was definitely going to win the bet. He groaned when he imagined himself having to wear Julius' outrageous clothes. He really didn't want to wear anything mesh or see-though. At least Gill would have to wear the clothes with him. He laughed under his breath, imagining how flustered Gill would be in transparent clothes.

At lunch, everyone sat at their usual, round lunch table.

Bo finished eating his mushroom rice before calling Molly and Angela's attention. "Hey," he said, "Luke and I are supposed to start working on your house today after school."

"Yeah," Luke said. "If your brother is home right now, then my pops probably already started on it!"

Gill and Chase had a confused look on their faces. They had no idea what they were talking about.

"Thanks so much, guys!" Molly said.

"Molly? Do you think we should give the extra room to Kasey since he's going to be staying with us now and all?" Angela asked.

"No way! He can sleep on the couch!"

"Molly…"

Molly sighed. "Alright, fine! It sucks that we worked so hard for that room, and now we're just giving it to Kasey," she grumbled.

"Heya, everyone!" Maya skipped to their lunch table with Luna.

Luna let out a childish giggle and waved. Luna went over to Gill and wrapped her arms around him. Maya did the same with Chase. Both boys had an annoyed expression. Molly could taste venom in her mouth. Luke and Angela watched the scene with mild interest. Bo bowed his head down, blushing.

"We thought we'd come by and say hi!" Luna said, and then shot an evil glare at Molly.

"Then, why are you both hugging us?" Chase asked.

"Because we love you guys!" Maya said, rubbing her face on Chase's cheek. She looked down at Chase's lunch and quickly retreated her arms to pick up a fork. "Oooh! Can I have a bite?"

Chase grabbed her wrist before she could take his silverware. "A bite to you is a whole meal."

Maya blinked. "So, a nibble?"

"No!"

She stomped her foot. "You're so mean, Chase!"

Luna still had her arms around Gill. "Gill isn't mean," she said playfully. "Are you, Gill?"

"Can you please get off me?" Gill asked coldly.

Luna did so and crossed her arms. "That's so rude, Gill!"

Molly smirked. "At least he said 'please'."

"Hmph!" Luna gave her a death glare and stomped away from their table. It reminded Molly of a spoiled little girl that threw a tantrum because she didn't get her way.

Maya watched as her friend went back to sit with Candace and Julius. "Umm…I think you made her upset," she said to Gill and Molly.

"Eh, she'll get over it," Gill said.

Molly smiled to herself, remembering that she said the exact same thing about Luna to him during her visit at Town Hall.

After lunch, Luke walked Angela to her dance class. Selena saw the two and snorted. The class did their stretches to the rhythm of the booming music playing in the room.

"You know, I had fun last night with your brother," Selena taunted Angela. Angela tried to ignore her and focus on stretching her muscles. Selena continued, "And if you and your sister hadn't have been party poopers, we could've had even more fun."

"The only reason Kasey seemed to have fun was because he was drunk," Angela calmly said, trying to avoid a scene.

Selena felt insulted, but she didn't show it; she didn't want to appear weak to a girl like Angela. "I hear that you're going out with little Luke. Am I wrong?" Angela looked at her like she was an insect that was striking fatal weak spots at her prey. She turned away and nodded reluctantly. Selena made a snobby smile. "Hmm, we'll see how long that lasts, then."

After school, Molly and Angela went back to their farm and saw Dale working on their house.

"I thought I'd get a head start before Luke and Bo start to help me!" Dale said.

They thanked him and went inside. They searched the empty room. "Umm, where is Kasey?" Angela asked. They looked in their room, but he wasn't there either. They went back outside to ask Dale if he'd seen Kasey. He said he saw him wonder into the barn, so they went to look. They found him inside, stroking Brownie's chocolate brown fur. Angela smiled at the sight. "What are you doing in here?" she asked.

"I told you I would help you guys out, but I couldn't find your farming tools, so the best I could do was feed your cow," he explained. He pointed at Brownie's filled trough. "See?"

Molly was impressed. "I didn't think you were serious when you said that."

Kasey grinned. "I sure was!"

"Is your hangover gone or something?" Angela asked.

"Just a headache now."

"I guess I'll show you the tools and how to use them now," Molly said.

"Sweet!"

Molly showed him how to use the tools and how to farm while Angela chatted with Dale while he worked and soon along with Bo and Luke when they arrived.

"Hey, Kasey," Molly called when he was watering the rest of the dry crops. "I was thinking you'd want to come with me to Marimba Farm so that you can see where we buy our seeds and stuff. I have to get something there, anyways."

"Alright!"

When entering Marimba Farm's shop, Kasey stared in awe at all of the fruits and vegetables on display. He had never seen so much food in one place before. Kasey waited by the front door while Molly talked to Ruth at the counter. The front door opened beside him. It was a brown haired girl, struggling to carry a box of produce. The box was large and covered her face when trying to carry its mass. Kasey wondered if she could even see where she was going.

Kasey sighed and stepped up. "Here, lemme help you with that." He took the box from her before she could say a word and placed it on an empty table nearby. "There."

She smiled. "Wow, you're such a gentleman," she said. "Thank you so much! My name is Anissa. I work and live here with my parents." She did a polite bow. "I don't believe I've seen you around here before…"

"Oh, you haven't. I'm Molly and Angela's brother, Kasey. I'm gonna be staying with them for a while."

"Well, I have to go back out and harvest the rest of the fields. It was a pleasure meeting you."

Molly walked up beside Kasey with a basket of oranges in her hands, right in time to watch Anissa wave goodbye.

"Okay, I'll see you around." Kasey said, watching her leave.

"You know you're not allowed to go after her, right?" Molly asked, making it sound more like statement than a question.

Kasey rolled his eyes. "Do you really think I go after any girl that moves and breaths?"

She left the shop with Kasey following behind her. She started walking slowly towards Chase's house as she talked "Are you kidding me? I'm surprised you don't have five kids already!"

Kasey got serious. "Oh, no. I always protect myself."

Disgust took over Molly's face. "EW, EW, EW, EW!"

Kasey gasped when he realized what he said. "AHH, SORRY, SORRY!"

"Please don't ever talk about that with me! I'd like to keep it subtle!" Molly said.

"Right, sorry," Kasey exhaled. "Anyways, sorry to burst your bubble, but you're wrong about what you said earlier. I wasn't trying anything with that girl."

Molly was stunned. Kasey was just full of surprises that day. "But why not? She has to be the prettiest and nicest girl on this island. You don't think she's pretty?"

"No, I think she's pretty. I can tell just by the way she looks and talks that she's not into the kind of stuff I do, so why bother?"

Molly nodded. "By stuff you mean…"

Kasey laughed. "Yeah, that's what I meant. I was trying to be subtle for ya."

Molly smirked. "Well, it worked." She stopped once they were in front of Chase's house.

"What are we doing here?" Kasey read the name on the mailbox close to him. "Who is Chase? You have a boyfriend too?"

Molly blushed slightly. "No, he's just a friend. He's the chef at that bar you love so much. I'm only giving him his birthday present real quick, but you can go inside and meet him if you'd like."

"Nah, I'll just stay out here since you're only giving him something. I can meet him the next time I go to that bar. Just don't make me wait an hour out here."

Molly knocked on the front door and held out the fruit basket when Chase when opened the door. "Happy birthday!"

He chuckled and invited her inside. Chase gazed at the present like a child. "You got me oranges?"

She nodded. "I know how much you like them, and you can use them for whatever you can cook them with!"

Chase smiled broadly and accepted the gift. "Thanks, Molly!"

Molly was glad that he liked the present since she picked it out so suddenly. "You're welcome. So, how does it feel to be seventeen?"

Chase shrugged. "I don't feel any different. Maybe I will next year since I'll be an adult and be able to get married and stuff." Molly grinned slightly more then. Chase mentally slapped himself in the face for even thinking about getting married. He didn't want to scare her off. He cleared his throat and nervously changed the subject. "So, when is you and Angela's birthday?"

"Winter 21st."

Kasey sat outside of Chase's house, viewing the nature around him. You definitely couldn't find a beautiful place like this in the city. It was so natural. This made him feel much better about living with his sisters. He let his eyes wonder around Marimba Farm's massive field of colorful flowers. Then something brown and moving caught his eye. He squinted his eyes to see what it was. It was young Anissa's brown hair moving with her body as she harvested the ready flowers. He watched her as she transported several flowers into baskets. She seemed to be working hard yet showed no sign of distress. She walked out of the fields, holding many baskets on each arm. She didn't have a problem carrying them due to the flower's light weight. She exchanged a brief glance with Kasey before going back inside her family's shop.

* * *

**** Thanks for reading!  
Your reviews were so nice! I love reading them, so thank you. :) **

**Also, I have a new poll up on my profile.  
It asks you which bachelor/bachelorette you want me to do a one-shot of. They will be paired with the main character of that game.  
Of course I can't publish those one-shots yet because of that dumb error page but once I get it to go away I'll post them. ****


	11. Eavesdropping

**** Okay, I would like to say that it feels like forever since I've updated. I've wanted to finish this chapter much earlier but I haven't been feeling well, physically and emotionally, plus, school has really been kicking my butt lately. :/ Just a little stressed, but I'll be all right. Thank goodness summer is almost here! :D  
I can't help but feel that this chapter is a bit sloppy in terms of writing. So, if it is...sorry. :S  
Still, I hope you enjoy reading it! :) ****

* * *

Chapter 11

"Sheesh, you're no fun!" Molly whispered to Gill in their Algebra 2 class. She was trying to get Gill to, for once, put his book down and watch the movie Cain let the class watch.

"It's a stupid movie," Gill said stubbornly.

"It just so happens to be one of my favorites, and that's what you say about every movie he lets us watch!"

"Because they are all stupid. Shouldn't he be teaching us something instead of always putting a dumb kid's movie in front of us?"

"You seriously want to do math on the last day of school?"

"No, I want to read my book."

Molly rolled her eyes. She grabbed the book from Gill's hands and put it in her bag. "You may have this back after class, young man!" she said, pretending to be a teacher.

Gill held out his hand. "Give it," he commanded.

"Are you kidding me? The lights are off, you idiot. How are you supposed to read if you can't even see the words?"

"…Very carefully."

"Oh, just watch the movie, and stop being such a party-pooper!" Molly said.

Gill grunted and leaned his head against his propped up hand while he tried to watch the movie, _Snow__White._The whole time he watched it he pointed out unrealistic things or questioned the movie's plot. "This is so stupid. If she had the ability to turn herself into an old hag, then why didn't she just make herself more beautiful than that girl instead of going through all of that trouble just to get rid of her?"

"Gill, it's just a cartoon," Molly said firmly.

"But it makes no sense! And what is that girl doing now? Is she cleaning a house with the help of forest animals? That is completely unrealistic!"

"If you keep this up, I'm going to burn your book," Molly threatened.

Gill grew quiet and grumbled something under his breath.

* * *

The students of Harmonica High School ate their lunches zealously, waiting for the rest of the day to be over with. Some were so excited that they lost their appetite and sat at their lunch table, watching others eat their own lunch. Luke was a perfect example of such student. Angela didn't know whether she should've giggled at Luke's excitement or be worried that he wouldn't take a single bite of his boiled spinach. She chose to worry.

"But you love this stuff," Angela said, pointing her face the opposite direction of the spinach. She didn't understand how Luke can have the personality of a child and yet love spinach, a child's worst enemy at the dinner table. It was just too ironic.

Angela might as well not have said anything because Luke seemed to not have heard it. He was all wired up and couldn't control his fidgets and jitters. He pounded his fists against the lunch table, startling the others. "AHH! IT'S ALMOST OVER!"

Angela sighed. "Yeah, we're all excited too. Now, eat your spinach before I make you."

Molly snickered at how much Angela resembled a mother. Gill watched, feeling that he had possibly seen a familiar scene. Chase and Bo watched with amusement.

"I think you'll have to force-feed him," Chase said.

"Hmm, great idea!" Angela agreed. She scooped up a bite's worth of spinach and shoved it in Luke's mouth.

"Mmm," Luke hummed dreamily with a smile. "All that's missing is mayonnaise!"

Her face scrunched up. "Ugh," she said in disgust. "You're so weird, Luke."

Luke laughed. "You're stuck with me!" He crushed her in a side-hug.

Angela laughed too.

"Okay, you guys better stop before I have a cuteness overload," Molly said, giggling. "Hey, why don't we all eat at the Inn together after school? It can be like celebrating the last day of school!"

Everyone at the table agreed, even quiet Bo. At the end of the day, the last bell rung. Everyone cheered and threw papers in the air, just like in the movies, but instead of rushing to the exit, everyone rushed to the front office to receive their GPA and class rank. After getting a sheet of paper with their ranks, Chase, Gill, Molly, Bo, Luke, and Angela walked to the Inn together, each reading their paper.

"Sixth!" Molly sighed. "Well, at least I'm not last in our class… What did you get, Chase?"

"I'm forth."

She frowned and turned to her sister. "What did you get, Ang?"

"I'm third," Angela said. "Don't feel too bad, Molly. Like you said, at least you're not last!"

Still, Molly looked at everyone else with slight panic. She was looking for someone that scored lower than her, trying to make herself feel better about her class rank. "What did you get, Gill?" she asked.

"First," Gill said, like it wasn't a big deal.

"It must be the sweater vest…" Luke muttered.

Gill glared at him. "A sweater vest has nothing to do with it."

"This is horrible… That's it! Gill, I'm borrowing some of your sweater vests next year!"

"No, you're not," Gill said, shaking his head.

"Molly, clothes don't make people smarter," Chase said. "You just have to study a little harder or something."

Molly looked over him blankly. "Hey, Chase, can I see your apron for a second?"

Chase sighed. "Did you even listen to what I just said?"

"But I don't want to study!" Molly whined.

"Awesome!" Luke exclaimed out of nowhere. He was looking off his paper for his class rank. "I got ninth!"

Everyone just looked him and facepalmed. "Luke," Bo said, "there's only nine people in your grade…"

"Toby slept the whole time, and he still scored higher than you… Nice," Chase said.

Luke groaned. "Man, I guess I really am dumb. Gill, you've gotta tutor me, dude!"

Molly gasped. "Luke, you're a genius!" She then pulled on Gill's shirtsleeve. "Gill tutor me, please!"

Gill's face reddened. "W-What? No! I already have to teach you how to play piano!"

"What about me?" Luke asked in hope.

"Not in a million years!"

When they all arrived at the Inn, they we're greeted by Maya and Luna. Bo blushed from the unexpected encounter. Angela took notice, but said nothing to avoid embarrassing him. Thank goodness Luke didn't notice.

"Hey, guys!" Luna said, then waved to only Gill. "Hi, Gill."

"Chase!" Maya ran up and hugged him. "You haven't been here since my last cooking lesson! I missed you!"

"That was yesterday, and will you let go of me?"

She let go of him and smiled. "Are you guys eating here? Oh, let me show you to your table!" She showed them to a table fairly close to the kitchen's front counter. She then pulled out her notepad and pen from her apron pocket and took their orders. "Awesome! I'll be back soon with your food!" She turned around, but she was grabbed by her wrist before she could make a single step towards the kitchen.

"Wait," Chase said. "Where's Yolanda?"

"Ummmm," Maya dragged out. "She's…at Marimba Farm getting ingredients."

"And Colleen?"

"With grandma…"

Chase clenched his jaw. "Who were you expecting to cook our food, then?" he asked sternly.

"Well…about that…" Maya mumbled.

"You were gonna try cook our food, weren't you?" Molly asked gently. She continued when Maya didn't answer. "Maya, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but maybe you should let Chase help you with this…"

Chase sighed. "I'll be back with the food." Luna took Chase's seat when he went straight to the kitchen with Maya following right behind. Maya grabbed a few pots and pans, but was almost immediately halted by Chase. "You should just sit on the side-line," he said coldheartedly.

Maya stood, her palms turning into fists and her eyes becoming moist. "Just because I can't cook, doesn't mean you can treat me like dirt…"

He furrowed his brows. "What? I don't treat you like dirt."

"Psssh, yeah, and I've never given you food poisoning!" Maya started to cry, but she didn't wipe the tears away from her face. "All you do is insult me! I HATE YOU!" she screamed and fled off.

Chase's violet eyes were wider and his mouth formed a straight line. He was already expecting Maya to get mad, but he wasn't expecting her to scream from the top of her lungs at him. What she said stung, but, at the same time, Chase was just relieved to be able to cook the food without any distractions.

"Was that Maya?" Molly asked after hearing furious screams from the kitchen.

Luna shot a glare at Molly before leaving the table and charging up to Chase. "Okay, what did you do to Maya?" Hatred rolled off her tongue.

"She ran off somewhere after she said she hates me," he said.

Luna turned sour. "I hope you know you're a jerk!" She went to the Maya's room where she saw her sprawled on top of her bed, face against a fluffy pillow. Luna pursued her lips in fiery. "Maya, don't cry over him."

"Why…doesn't…he…like me?" Maya asked, her voice being muffled by her pillow and sobs.

Luna sat beside Maya, her eyes like ice. "You know why? Because he likes that smelly farmer, Molly," she said venomously. "If she was out of the way, you would have a chance!"

Maya sat up, sniffling. She considered what Luna had said. "But…I like Molly. She's nice to me."

"Is she being nice by stealing him?" Luna snapped. "Maya, you're in love with this guy, right? Do you really want some stupid, smelly, boy-stealing farmer to take him away from you?"

"I don't know…"

Luna sighed in frustration and grabbed hold of her hand. "Come on. We're going to see what they're talking about in there."

Maya gasped. "You mean we're spying? No, Luna! What if they catch us? Chase will just hate me even more!"

She rolled her eyes. "They're not going to catch us. Just follow me." Luna led her, quietly and unnoticed by the others, to the kitchen area. She crouched down behind the kitchen counter and pulled Maya down with her. "See?" she whispered. "They can't see us, and we can hear everything they say. Just stay quiet, and Chase won't hate you even more."

Maya nodded reluctantly and listened to the table's conversation.

"Dude, Chase, I forgot how good your food is!" Luke exclaimed. Bo and Angela nodded in agreement.

"Mmm, it really was good," Molly said dreamily.

Chase blushed. "Thanks."

"Molly," Angela said, "I think we should head home to help out Kasey. I don't feel right leaving him there to do all the farm work."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Molly said, getting up from her chair. "We'll see you guys later." The sisters left the four boys at the Inn to stare at each other for a few minutes.

"I guess I should go pick up their plates," Maya said.

"Wait," Luna said, stopping her. She crawled over to take a peek. "I think one of them is about to say something."

"Guys," Luke said to Chase and Gill. "I've gotta talk to you guys about the bet."

"Luke!" Gill hissed.

Chase gestured to Bo. "Somebody is here."

Luke waved his hand. "Aww, it's just Bo! He ain't gonna tell anybody."

Gill and Chase looked over the confused Bo. "You didn't hear anything you're about to hear," Chase said. Bo gulped and nodded.

"_This__ is __getting __really __juicy!"_ Luna thought to herself.

"So…" Luke began. "I've been thinking, and after being with Angela lately…I've been having second thoughts about this bet…"

Chase looked at him with suspicion. "Is this some kind of trick?"

"W-What?"

"I'm not sure what you're plan is, but I'm not letting you win. No way am I losing and letting all that stuff you guys said in the beginning be true."

"Dude, what the heck are you talking about?"

"You don't remember?" Chase said. "You said I would bore Molly to death," he said to Gill. He turned back Luke. "And you said she would never kiss me. I'm proving you both wrong. I'm not giving up just because you're a little ahead of the game by dating Angela, and I'm sure as hell not going to wear any of Julius' ridiculous clothes!" Chase said, confident and determined.

Luke and Gill never heard Chase talk about proving himself unless it had something to do with cooking. It was like seeing a dog meow. Luke became uneasy in his seat. If Chase didn't budge then maybe he could convince Gill to quit with him.

"What about you, Gill? You said it yourself that Molly is annoying and stuff, right?"

Gill leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. "True…"

"Well, now you don't have to hang out with her anymore. C'mon, man! Quit with me!" Luke begged.

Gill considered this, but then he began to think back on when he was around her, watching her amuse herself with the piano's keys at the school, when he listened to her play that beautiful tune on her silver flute, visiting her when she was in the Clinic. Not being able to do those things again with a real purpose scared him. But if he told Luke or Chase this, they would suspect he was in love with Molly or any thing of the sort. They would constantly be on his case, especially Luke.

"I don't know, Luke," Gill said. "I believe I remember one of you saying I would scare them off."

Chase raised his hand. "That would be me."

Gill gave him a look. "I agree with Chase. Besides, we've gone this far… Why stop? It's only one kiss with one of them, and then it's over."

Maya covered her open mouth with her hand. "Are you hearing this?" she whispered to Luna.

"Shhh!" Luna replied. _So,__ they're __having __some__ type __of __bet __to __see __which __one __can __get kissed by __one __of __the __twins __first? __Oh, __this __is __pure __gold!_

"_Oh!__ I__ can't __listen __to __this __anymore!"_ Maya yelled in her head. She stood up from behind the counter and went to the guy's table. "Can I take your dishes now?" she said cheerfully, as if she didn't hear a word of their conversation before.

Luna gritted her teeth. _Why__ the __heck __did __she __do __that? __I __could've __got __more __dirt! _Luna stood up from her hiding place and painted a cute smile on her face when Maya picked up the dirty dishes from the table to the sink to wash them. Luna skipped to the table and began talking to the tense boys. She hoped to dig for some more gold. "So, what's up, guys?"

"I was just leaving," Chase said stiffly. He walked straight out of the Inn without even a goodbye.

"Okay..." Luna said, feeling the awkwardness in the air.

"Me too," Gill said, pushing in his chair. "I have paperwork I need to do at Town Hall."

"Alright, Gill," Luna giggled. "Don't forget to stop by, and visit me this summer! I can help you pick out a bathing suit!"

"Yeah…sure," Gill said, uncertain. With that, he left the Inn.

Luke and Bo still sat at the table. Luke wasn't in a great mood after Chase and Gill declined his proposal to stop the bet. Bo sat quietly and uncomfortably.

Luna took one of the remaining seats next to Bo. "Is something wrong with you guys?"

Bo looked away when his face felt hot. "No…"

"Let's just go home, Bo. We didn't even tell Pops that we were gonna be here after school," Luke said in a low volume.

"Yeah, okay." Bo followed Luke on the way out of the Inn and stopped briefly to turn around to stutter, "B-Bye, Luna."

That night, Luke laid in his bed, staring at his ceiling. He thought of Angela. He was so close to kissing her in Fugue Forest. He wanted to go straight to her house and kiss her, but he couldn't. If he kissed her, he would win the bet. He didn't feel right about being apart of the bet anymore, and he had no desire to win it. He just wanted to be with Angela without feeling like he's using her. He needed to find a way to end the bet quickly because he didn't know how long he could last without accidentally winning. But the only thing he could think of was for Gill or Chase to win.

"That's it!" Luke exclaimed. "I just gotta help one of them win before I crack!" He grinned and talked out loud to himself. "Luke, you're such a genius. How you ended up in last place in your class is beyond me!"

* * *

**** I really do enjoy reading your reviews! Knowing that somebody likes your story is just an amazing feeling, so thank you! :)  
**

**Also, I posted my first one-shot from my poll. It's called She Made me Smile. It's a Chelsea x Vaughn story. (IoH)  
Y'all can check that out if you want.  
The next few one-shots from the poll will be: Molly x Luke, Molly x Gill, and then a Molly x Chase. Most likely in that order by votes. ****


	12. Just Friends

**** School is slowing down so I plan to take full advantage of it! :) ****

* * *

Chapter 12

The summer air came with a soothing smile upon Castanet Island. The sun kissed the villager's skin and sent relaxation to their hard-worked, tired muscles. Though the children still had to do their daily chores to help out the family businesses, the adults were lenient and didn't let them stay cooped up in their homes.

Summer for the recently graduated from Harmonica High School was a time of maturity into adulthood. It was unfamiliar freedom to stick into their minds, especially for the buff, brotherly Owen and the calm, peaceful Anissa. The freedom to start their own lives, get married, and have children of their own without a disapproving eye staring at them was unusual and even scary to them. Owen didn't want to leave the carefree lifestyle that came with childhood, while Anissa looked back on her childhood as if she were mourning a death.

Along with summer, the festivals came with it. With the Firefly Festival being only a day away, the adolescents and young adults looked for dates to accompany them to the event.

Chase was one of them. He immediately sought out Molly that morning. She was excited to go to the festival and experience it. She and Angela never celebrated it where they were from. She accepted Chase's offer, thinking he meant as friends instead of as a date.

Later that day, Molly walked with Kasey to the bar for a bite to eat.

"Remember," she said as they walked across the bridge between Harmonica Town and the farm. "Only one cocktail, and that's it for the day."

"Yes, ma'am," Kasey replied.

She glowered at him, but smiled at waved when she saw Gill exiting Town Hall and locking the door. "Gill!" she called.

He turned around. "Oh, hey." Gill looked over Kasey and instantly found distaste for him based on his sloppy appearance of grass-stained jeans and a wrinkly, maroon tee shirt. "I'm assuming this is Kasey?"

"How's it going, man?" Kasey forced Gill into a handshake. "I'm sure you've heard about me from this demon over here."

Gill wiped the hand that Kasey shook on his shirtsleeve. "Yes, she's told me about you once before."

Kasey sighed when he looked at Molly, who was biting her lip. "Knowing her, I'm guessing it wasn't a good story."

"Not particularly. It involved a chair."

"Great."

"Anyways," Molly said, eager to change the subject. "Are you going to the Firefly festival, Gill?"

"Yes, I am."

"Cool! Who are you going with? If you're not going with anybody, then you should definitely go with me and Chase."

Gill's left eye twitched, and his jaw clenched. "No, thanks," he said with irritation evident in his tone. "I'm only going to help my father set every thing up."

"You mean…you're not going to put lanterns in the river, look at the fireflies, or go with anybody? You're just going to…work?"

"That's the idea… Look, I have to go now. Nice officially meeting you, Kasey." Gill turned on his heels and walked off into town, leaving Molly with a frown on her face.

"Hmm, he's always grumpy, but he seemed a bit off just now. I can't put my finger on it…"

"I'm sure he just didn't want to be the third wheel between you and Chase," Kasey explained.

Molly dismissed this. "Nah, that can't be it. Me and Chase are only going as friends."

Kasey shook his head. "You sound so naïve, Molls. You're supposed to bring a date to this festival. Do you really think a guy would ask you to a festival like this to only go as friends?"

She lowered her head, considering what Kasey was telling her. "But…Chase and I are best friends," she said quietly.

"Think back. Did he actually ask you to go as friends or did you just assume that?"

Molly looked into her memory and gasped in revelation. "I did assume it! Does this mean that Chase…likes me?" She felt an embarrassing blush come on her cheeks. "What if you're just wrong?"

"Did you forget that I'm a guy? I know what I'm talking about."

"Let's not talk about Chase anymore," she suggested. They didn't talk again until they received their food and drinks at the Bar. "Who are you going to the festival with?" Molly finally asked, taking a bite of her mashed potatoes.

"Nobody," he said with a shrug. "Selena asked me to go with her, but I told her no because I wasn't going to go anyway."

Molly looked over at Selena, who was dancing on stage while sending a dirty look in their direction. _Someone__ doesn't __take __rejection__ well__… _"Why aren't you going?"

"I don't know. Not the festival type, I guess. I'd rather just work some more on the fields."

"I hope you know how much Angela and I appreciate how much you've been helping us on the farm. Because of you we have a full field of crops, we have plenty of money to live on, and probably enough to buy another plot of land. I'm really surprised at how much work you put into our farm, so thank you."

Kasey grinned. "Heh, don't mention it, sis. I actually like working on the fields. I never knew I had such a green thumb." He took a sip of his blueberry cocktail and noticed Molly eyeballing it. "What, you want to try it or something?"

"Umm, no thanks," she said hesitantly. "I was just wondering why you like drinking that stuff so much..."

"It's okay if you want to try it, you know. You're not going to get drunk or hooked just by one sip." Molly didn't say anything. Kasey sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to put pressure on you or anything. I just want you to know that, as your older brother, I don't ever want to see you become a stupid drunk like me," he said sincerely. "I was kinda hoping that if you tasted it, you wouldn't like it. That way I'll know that you'll never end up a loser like me."

Molly smiled. "You're not a loser, and you're not a stupid drunk. You just don't know how to control yourself." She reached over for his cocktail. She swished the blue drink around in its glass before taking a tiny sip of it. She actually liked it. She didn't expect to like the taste of it or the feeling of it goes down her esophagus.

Kasey was leaning forward, waiting nervously for Molly answer. "So? You hate it, right?"

"I… Of course I hate it!" she lied. "Now I really wonder why you like it so much!" She gave Kasey his drink back.

"Okay, good thing. I was afraid you were going say you like it."

Molly took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. "You don't mind if I go talk to Chase for a minute, do you?"

"Go ahead and talk to your boyfriend," Kasey teased.

"He isn't my… We're just friends," she said softly before walking over to the kitchen.

Kasey made sure Molly wasn't in sight before calling Kathy's attention. "I'm going to need another drink."

Molly tapped her skinny finger on Chase's shoulder. He jumped, but smiled when he realized who it was. "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Came with my brother. I thought I'd talk to you while I'm here." She looked down and saw that her legs were shaking. "About the Firefly Festival…"

Chase furrowed his eyebrows. "What about it?"

Molly opened her mouth, wanting to say, "I thought you wanted to go as friends," but nothing came out. Instead she just stood there with her mouth ready speak, but without the right words.

"Are you okay?" Chase asked.

She nodded. "I thought you…"

Chase smirked. "You thought I what?"

Molly sighed in defeat. "I thought you should know that I'm excited for the festival tomorrow." _Crap._

He chuckled. "I am too."

* * *

Luna smoothed her flowery dress and fluffed her voluminous, pink pigtails before knocking on the door in front of her.

Gill opened the door halfway from the other side. "Oh, hello, Luna," he said without emotion. "I wasn't expecting you to come by. Are you here to see my father?"

She giggled. "No, silly! I came to see you. I wanted to know if you have a date to the Firefly Festival already."

This conversation reminded him of his last with Molly when running into her in town. He really wanted to hit Chase to let out some steam. "I'm not going with anybody," he said bitterly. "I'm only going to help my father."

Luna kept a child-like smile. "Maybe I can help! I'm really good at organizing things."

"No, thanks. I'm capable of doing it myself," Gill said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I would like to get back to my reading…"

He closed the door before Luna could say anything to stop him. She pouted and stormed back to her home at the Tailor's. _How__ the __heck __am__ I __supposed__ to __get __him __to __like __me __if __he's __going __to __be__ so __anti-social? __There __has __to __be __some __way __to __get __him __to __notice __me __more__…_

* * *

Angela sat with Bo, eating sandwiches and drinking green tea in the Carpentry's kitchen area while Dale and Luke worked on making a table. Every now and then, they would hear Dale bellow, "Boy, you're doing it wrong!" from the other room, but it was almost immediately followed by a "Lay off, old man!" from Luke. Angela and Bo would snicker as they listened in on the two bickering. They also talked, something they never took the time to do one on one before.

"I'm guessing Luke already asked you to the festival?" Bo asked after drinking the last of his tea with deep satisfaction.

"Yeah, he's really pumped about it. " Angela smiled. "Have you asked anybody yet?"

Bo paused, but then spoke in a shaky voice. "I want to, but I'm afraid…"

Angela cocked her head to side. "Don't be afraid. She's a lucky girl to have you interested!" she said to encourage him.

_How __can __a __girl __as__ confident __and __beautiful __as __her __be __lucky __to __have __me?_" Angela, do you think you can give me some advice… Seeing that you're a girl and all…" Bo asked shyly.

"Well, I guess being yourself is always number one," she began, not sure if what she was advising applied to all girls, but she tried her best to make it so. "Try to keep a conversation going, but don't make it all about you. Umm…ask her things about herself to prevent that, and I know you might struggle with this, but don't be nervous. Just relax."

Bo was nervous just thinking about it. "What do I say when I ask her?"

"Just relax and be casual. The words will just come to you."

Bo wasn't sure about that, but nodded anyway. "Thanks, Angela. I can't talk to Luke about his kinda stuff. He'd be all over my case to find out who the girl is before telling me any thing."

Angela smirked and poked him. "You never told me who the girl is, you know."

"I… Well… She's…Umm…"

She covered her mouth with one hand and giggled. "That's okay, Bo. You don't have to tell me who if you don't want to, but can I at least have a hint?"

"She's…the prettiest girl I've ever seen," Bo said dreamily.

"…That sure narrowed it down."

Bo smiled and stood up from his chair quickly. "I'm going to go ask her before it gets late."

"Good luck!" Angela called out to Bo as he left the Carpentry.

Bo took the shortcut to Harmonica Town using the mine cart and walked into town. It had been a while since Bo walked through town besides when he went to school. He watched his feet as he moved forward until he found himself in front of a very decorated shop. He breathed and entered, hearing a jiggle from a bell he assumed was attached to the door.

"Welcome!" a girl with pink pigtails greeted automatically. She then took a second look at the boy to be sure it was actually him. "Bo? Since when do you buy clothes? I would've never guessed since you spend so much time with that idiot, Luke."

Bo blushed and looked down at the ground sheepishly. "N-No, Luna… I didn't come here to buy clothes…"

Luna frowned and a bored expression took over her face. "Well, I can't help you, then," she said, walking over to a mannequin from across the room to smooth out its dress. She then started folding a huge pile of clothes.

"I-I came to ask you a question…"

Luna didn't look up when she folded the newly made clothes. "Okay, but make it quick. I'm really busy right now."

"I…was wondering if…you might possibly…"

"Just say it out already!" Luna demanded.

"Will you go to the Firefly Festival with me?" Bo spat out at a much higher volume than he intended because of the pressure. His face was a bright crimson.

Luna still folded the laundry and quietly laughed to herself. "That's funny. I thought you just asked me out to the festival tomorrow. Now, what did you say?"

"I…I did ask you to go to the festival…with me," Bo said, preparing himself for rejection.

Luna furrowed her neatly trimmed eyebrows and looked up from her laundry. "Did Luke put you up to some sick prank? "

"No."

Luna sighed. "Sorry Bo, but I -" She stopped when a sudden thought entered her little head. _Going__ with __Bo __will __definitely __make __Gill __jealous. __Strategy!_

"You don't want to go with me," Bo answered for her, disappointed.

"N-No!" Luna said quickly. "What I was going to say was 'Sorry Bo, but I…only date paying customers!' Yeah, that's what I meant!"

Bo's eyes widen. He frantically dug through his pockets. "I have money," he declared excitedly. Luna showed him the mens' section of clothing, which didn't interest Bo in the slightest. Clothes didn't seem important to him, but he did know that Luna loved clothes and accessories. "What is your favorite thing you guys sell?" he asked her.

Luna didn't understand the purpose of his question, but showed him a frilly, pink sundress that the Tailor's just got in a few days before. "It's so cute and Grandma won't let me have it!" she complained.

"I'll take it."

Luna gasped and put her closed palms against her hips. "Hey! I just told you I want this dress, and then you decide to buy it? And what the heck are you going to do with a dress, anyway?"

Bo flinched. "Give it to you…"

Luna's face lifted to a stunned look. "You want…to buy me this?"

Bo let out a small chuckle. "Well, I'm not going to wear it!"

Luna beamed. "Are you sure? We have plenty of mens' clothes that would look great on you."

"Nah, I wanna buy you the dress," Bo insisted.

Luna happily took the dress to the register and rang it up. She held it up and viewed it with adoration. "This is so generous of you, Bo," she commented. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Bo looked out the window and saw the sky tinted in a beautiful orange color. "I guess I should go before it gets too dark out outside." He started for the door. "I'll see you at the festival, then."

"Wait," Luna stepped forward. "Aren't you going to walk me to the festival tomorrow?"

Bo didn't think about that. He had never asked a girl on a date before. "If you want me to." Luna bit her bottom lip, tasting the strawberry lip-gloss and nodded. "Then I'll be here tomorrow before the festival," Bo said. He walked out of the Tailor's and leaned against its front door, breathing so heavily that you would think he had held his breath the entire time.

* * *

**** I wanted to add a little Bo x Luna to this story because I think it's adorable.  
**

** And thank you for the wonderful reviews, guys! :) ****


	13. Love and Jealousy

**** Here's the next chapter. I had a lot of fun writing this one. I hope you have fun reading it! :D **

**I know I forget to say this a lot but...I DON'T OWN HARVEST MOON! ****

* * *

Chapter 13

"Aw, why her, man?" Luke whined as he walked with Bo to the Tailor's to pick up Luna for the Firefly Festival. Their plan was to pick up Luna and then head to the twins' farm to pick up Angela as well.

"I like her," Bo said, "and if you mess this up, I'll kill you."

Luke sighed. "Fine, I've got your back."

They knocked on the shop's pink door and waited until Luna opened it. She grimaced upon seeing Luke. "Bo, what's that homeless carpenter doing here?" she asked rudely.

Luke gritted his teeth. "Hey, I'm not homeless, you dwarf!"

"You sure dress like you are!"

Bo cut into their fight. "Okay, break it up, you two. Luna, do you mind if we walk with Luke to pick up Angela?"

"Hmph," she scowled, "fine, but I'm not talking to him."

Luke snorted. "Like I'd wanna talk to you!"

Luna snarled. "Hobo!"

"Shrimp!"

After several insults from Luke and Luna and many sighs from Bo, they made it to the twins' farm. There was Chase, Molly, Kasey, and Angela laughing outside of the house.

Kasey saw them and called out with a wave, "Hey, Luke!"

Angela turned her head and smiled brightly. "Luke!" She ran up and gave him a hug, her arms around his neck.

He hugged her back, chuckling and admiring her warm skin. "Hey, Ang!" He let her go and asked, "What's Chase doing here?"

"I'm here to walk Molly to the festival," Chase answered.

"We can all walk there together!" Molly proposed excitedly.

"Are you sure you don't want to go?" Angela asked Kasey.

"Nah, I'd rather just work some more on the farm," he said. "There's still some more seeds I want to sow."

With that, everyone left for Flute Fields except for Kasey, who began to plow the fields with his hoe in bliss. While the group walked on, they heard a yell from behind them.

"Wait for me!"

Everyone turned around and saw Maya running towards the group as if a malicious lion was chasing her, holding on to the bottom of her puffy, pink dress. She huffed and puffed when she came to a stop.

"Yay! More people for our herd!" Molly giggled. "Where's your date, Maya?"

Maya faked a smile, but her eyes couldn't hide her sorrow. "Oh, I'm going alone. I don't need a date to pay respects to my ancestors, or cast a pretty lantern in a river…or to watch the fireflies with…"

Molly saw through Maya's disguise and didn't ask any more questions. Everyone continued walking together. The whole time, Luna glared at Molly while Maya instead looked at her with envy as she talked and laughed with Chase.

Once at Flute Fields, Molly caught sight of Gill and hollered for him to greet them. Gill smirked and walked over to the group with his hands in his pockets and a straight posture. "Thanks for coming here," he said to everyone. "I'm glad all of this work setting up the place didn't go to waste."

Luna pushed through everyone, dragging Bo along by the arm. "Gill, did I tell you? Bo asked me to the festival!" she said, hoping it would spark a reaction from the blonde.

Luna was disappointed when Gill looked at the red faced Bo, smiled, and then simply said to her, "That's nice." Bo was one of the only people on the island that Gill got along with well without any problems. He wasn't jealous, like Luna wanted him to be, but was happy for Bo. "The festival is going to begin so everyone should go to that tent next to my father and grab a lantern," Gill said.

Everyone did what he said. Angela gazed at her orange, flower-shaped lantern in awe. She cast it onto the river's surface, adding another illuminating light to its collection. She looked to her right and saw Luke silently praying with a pleasant smile. Two things popped into her mind at that moment.

One: she had never seen Luke pray before. He never came across as religious or spiritual. Heck, he still complains about boring church sermons he had to sit through as a young child.

Two: she had never seen Luke in such a state of tranquility and peace. He was usually the loud, goofy guy that hated to sit still. Seeing these things was unusual to witness for Angela. When Luke finished his prayer, he opened his yellow, cat-like eyes, his smile growing, and placed his blue lantern to the river's surface.

Gill sat next the tent that held the lanterns while watching everybody else watch the fireflies with their dates. He watched Chase and Molly the most. He couldn't hear them because of how far away he was from them, but he could tell that she was giggling as she tried to catch a lit firefly by the way her face scrunched up for a laughing grin.

She ran everywhere, chasing just one specific firefly in the air until she accidentally collided with Chase. They fell to the ground with Molly on top of him. They looked into each other's eyes. Chase's violet eyes had a hypnotic spell on Molly that was broken when Chase finally said to her, "You fell."

Molly laughed. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Chase smirked. "You know you're still on top of me, right?"

"Oh!" she blushed, sprung off of him and helped him up. She then started brushing the dirt off of Chase's clothes. "Sorry about that!"

Chase chuckled smoothly. "Don't be sorry."

That last sentence made Molly blush even more, and she thought to herself, _"Calm__ down, __Molly. __It's __only __Chase. __He __didn't __mean __any thing __by __that__…__I __think."_

Gill growled when watching the scene from far away. Hamilton placed a hand on his shoulder and let out a jolly laugh. "Looks like my Gill is jealous! I'm so proud of you, son!"

"I'm not jealous," Gill hissed at his father.

"Ooh, denial! I like it!" Hamilton laughed again and skipped away.

Gill shook his head and grumbled, "Lunatic."

Maya, who was sitting nearby on the ground next to the tent, heard the two and lowered her eyes more in sadness and loneliness. Because she did not go with a date, she sat out on the sidelines while everyone else enjoyed their alone time with their date. She asked Gill quietly, "You like Molly?"

Gill didn't answer. He didn't know how to answer that. He was utterly confused about how he felt about Molly. On one hand, he found her annoying and childish, but on the other hand, he felt drawn to her, as if she had a magnetic pull on him. He also couldn't help but feel unexplained rage inside of himself when he saw her with Chase. Just the sight of Chase talking to her made him want to rip his head off. To think they used to be friends at the beginning of the year. Now all that was between the two was acrimony and competition.

Maya took Gill's silence as a way of saying yes. She then mumbled, "Everybody likes Molly…"

* * *

Luna picked a spot to watch the fireflies with Bo that was just close enough to be able to spy on both Gill and Molly without having to squint her blue eyes and risk premature wrinkling. If either one of them closed the distance between them, she would quickly intervene. _"This__ plan __isn't __working. __It's __like __he __doesn't __care __if __I'm__ with __Bo!"_ she screamed in her head.

"You're wearing the dress I bought you," Bo said, smiling.

She snapped out of her train of thought to look at what she was wearing. It was the pretty, pink sundress that she loved ever since Sonata Tailoring got it. It had straps, a white waistline, and a diamond brooch that Luna stuck on it as a flattering accessory. She beamed, satisfied with her outfit. "Yeah, I really like it."

Bo gazed up at the lit up bugs that flew above them, the bright stars that kissed the sky, and felt the soft grass that he sat on with his hands. "Don't you just love nature?"

"What?"

"Nature, the outdoors," Bo continued. "I always find time during the day to interact with it somehow. It's just so…peaceful."

Luna looked around at her surroundings – the trees from the close Fugue Forest, the open field of green grass they sat on, the stars and fireflies above them, and a few scattered flowers that she noticed around the area. "It's pretty," she said.

He grinned. "That too."

Luna observed his peaceful expression with curiosity and asked, "How do you interact with it every day?"

"Lots of ways," he said. "Sometimes I'll talk a walk in the forest, or plant seedlings after I have to cut down trees, or sometimes just plant flowers randomly on the island."

Luna did a double take at the scattered flowers she saw earlier. "You…plant flowers?"

He nodded. "And tree seedlings just about every day. Do you like flowers?"

She smiled. "I love flowers. I'd love to help next time you plant some…"

"R-Really?"

Luna nodded her head considerably.

* * *

Kasey put his hoe on the soil to lie down on the grass and take a break from working hard on the land. He was getting tired, and his eyes began to get heavy, but he didn't want to turn in yet. Instead, he took a small break to look up at the stars in the dark sky. The stars and moon seemed so bright and big on the island compared to what Kasey saw in the city. He stared at the stars and moon until his vision became pitch black.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Kasey felt a nudge on his shoulder and moaned.

He heard what sounded like a giggle. "So, you were just sleeping?"

Kasey felt another nudge and slowly opened his eyes to see a pair of coral eyes. "Oh, Anissa. What are you doing here?" He rubbed the tiredness from eyes.

"I was foraging herbs when I found you here. At first, I thought you were passed out from exhaustion," she explained.

He chuckled lightly. "I'm fine," he assured her. "I guess I must've fallen asleep while I was taking a break. Why aren't you at the festival like everyone else?"

"I already went."

"It's over? Then, where are Angela and Molly?"

She shook her head. "No, I went to pay respects for my ancestors and left to gather herbs. Why aren't you at the festival?"

Kasey shrugged his shoulders. "I just didn't wanna go. I'd much rather finish working on this plot of land."

Anissa looked at the field that had plenty of room for more crops. "Let me help you," she said.

Kasey waved his hands. "No, no, no, I'm fine. I don't want you working on a farm that isn't even yours. You already have to work on those huge fields at Marimba."

She smiled one of her gentle, sincere smiles. "I'm glad that you're concerned, but I still want to help."

Kasey gave in, and soon Anissa was plowing the land four times faster than Kasey could imagine him doing. Kasey's gawked at her effortless speed in intimidation. It was embarrassing for him to think that a girl could do a hard-working, laborious job like plowing better and faster than him. "You…you wanna trade?" he asked, holding out a bag of seed.

She looked at him innocently and questionably. "Umm, sure."

Anissa sowed the seed as Kasey cultivated the soil. "If you don't mind me asking," she started, "why did you move to this island?" Kasey hesitated his answer. Anissa spoke again. "Sorry. Too personal?"

"Too embarrassing," Kasey corrected her.

"Too embarrassing to tell me?"

Kasey paused to smile at her interest. "Well, to give you the mega-short story, I lost my job, my girlfriend, and I had to drop out of college because I went broke. My sisters were the only ones I could turn to. So, now I'm living with them and helping them out until I can eventually get enough money to get back on my own two feet."

"That's so sad," she said almost in a whisper. "What are you going to do when you're back on your feet again?"

"Probably move back to the city," he replied. "I'd like to go back to college and make something of myself."

Anissa nodded understandingly.

* * *

Luke and Angela left the festival early to walk home alone, hand in hand. Angela loved the feel of Luke's leather gloves against her palms and the strong smell of evergreen he gave off. Luke would catch Angela staring up at him, and when he would look back, she would sheepishly turn her head back forward with an embarrassed smile. Luke laughed at her shyness.

"Luke?" Angela said. "Can I ask you a question?"

"What's up?"

"What were you praying about at the river? I've never seen you do that before."

"That? Oh, I was praying to my mother."

"Mother?" Angela said with extreme interest. She had never heard mention of his mother until now.

"Yep. She died when I was little, so I don't remember much about her. I just like to pray to her and visit her sometimes," Luke said, very comfortable and content when talking to Angela about this.

"What do you mean you visit her?"

"I visit her grave by the Church Grounds," he explained.

"Do you think…I can visit her too someday?"

Luke's yellow eyes lit up. "Are you kidding me? Of course you can! We can do it tomorrow if you want!"

Angela smiled, showing her big, white teeth. "I'd love too. I can't wait."

Luke nodded. "So, what about your parents? You never told me much about them."

Her face fell to a despondent frown. "Well, they, uh… We're not very close with them."

"What do you mean by that? You mean, you fight a lot?" he asked, concerned.

"No, we never fought. We never saw them enough to fight about anything. After a while, they started spending less and less time with me and Molly to the point where we only saw them for a few seconds when they'd come home from going out together, and then they'd go straight to bed, sometimes without even saying goodnight." A lump started to form in Angela's throat, making her voice sound raspy and choked. She watched her feet below to hide her face. "I feel so worthless and unloved by them, especially since they sent us here to live by ourselves. How can anybody love me if not even my own parents do?"

Luke didn't say anything automatically, but when he did, he furrowed his blue brows and said, "That's stupid," taking Angela by surprise. Luke then continued with, "There are so many people that love and care about you! Owen, Julius, Candace, and Renee think you're awesome, and Bo and my pops practically consider you family. Plus, Kasey loves you, Molly loves you, I love…"

Angela shot her head up to look Luke in the face, her eyes round, and her lungs not accepting air. She couldn't believe what Luke almost said and wasn't walking anymore, but instead was frozen where she was.

Luke stopped when she did to look back into her soft, brown eyes that always winked irresistibly at him when he looked deep into them. His heart raced rapidly, and he fought his urges to do what he wanted to do the most. _No,__ I __can't! __The __bet__… __It's __wrong! __Control __yourself, __man! __But__…__she's __so __beautiful__… __Ahh,__ what __the __hell!_

Luke cupped Angela's cheeks in his hands and pressed his lips against her's passionately. Angela's eye's grew rounder, but slowly they closed tightly, and she found herself wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. His thick, strong lips made a beautiful contrast to her thin, velvet lips as they push and pulled on each other. She didn't want to stop, but was forced when her lungs screamed for oxygen. She released him, resting her forehead on his and breathing heavily. Her heart was pounding so hard against her chest that she thought it was going to pop out and start singing.

"Luke," she managed to say.

"Yeah?" Luke said, breathing deeply to from the lack of oxygen. He felt somehow free after kissing her, in a way he couldn't quite explain. Almost like a burden had been lifted off his back.

"Kiss me again."

A grin spread right across his tan face. He took a deep breath to store as much air as he could in his lungs and obeyed her happily and willingly.

* * *

**** Thank you for reading and reviewing! ****


	14. Deep Denial

**** Sorry about the three week wait. I was a little busy finishing up several school projects. Don't you hate when all of your teachers decide to assign a project at the same time? This chapter is pretty long so hopefully that makes up for it? Updates will be much more frequent when school finally ends at the beginning of June. I can't wait! :DD ****

* * *

Chapter 14

The morning after the festival, Luke paced his room, holding his head and pulling his messy hair while Bo watched him worriedly.

"Dude, are you okay?" Bo asked.

"No, man! I'm freaking out over here!"

Bo flinched. "W-Why? Did something happen between you and Angela?"

"Yeah, man, I freakin' kissed her!"

Bo didn't understand why this would be a problem until he remembered the conversation he heard between Luke, Chase, and Gill in the Inn when school ended. "You guys kissed?" he asked.

"Goddess, I'm such an idiot! I just totally took advantage of her, and now I've won the bet. AHH, I'M SUCH AN IDIOT, BO!" Luke sat down on his bed and buried his face in his leather gloves.

"Are…are you crying?"

Luke looked at him with disbelief. "Have you lost your mind? Crying's for wimps and sissies!"

"Just making sure… You know, I don't think you technically won the bet."

"Weren't you listening at all when you were at the Inn with us?"

Bo nodded. "Yeah, but...wasn't the rule that she has to kiss you?"

"What's your point?"

"SHE has to kiss YOU!"

Luke replayed all of the meetings at the Inn and gasped out of happiness. He then bolted to give Bo a giant bear hug. "I LOVE YOU, BO!"

Bo pried Luke off of him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but sorry, dude. I'm sorta seeing somebody already," he joked.

Luke laughed. "Hey, speaking of the witch, how did it go last night?"

Bo smiled. "Good. We're gonna hang out later today."

Luke gagged, but managed to keep his composure. "What are you guys gonna do? Is she going to dress you up in some ridiculous dress with flowers and glitter all over it? Because I strongly disapprove."

Bo laughed. "No, she's gonna go plant flowers and seedlings with me."

Luke folded his arms and nodded his head. "Oh, yeah. I forgot you were into that putting-plants-in-dirt-to-make-them-grow kinda stuff.

"…You mean gardening?"

"What you said!" Luke said, snapping his finger. They both laughed until Luke said, "Well, I'll see you later, dude."

Bo waved goodbye. Luke grinned when walking into the main room of the Carpentry and was just about to go out the front door when his father stopped him.

"Where you think you're going, boy? You have work today," Dale said with his husky voice.

"I know, but I was gonna visit Mom by the Church Grounds with Angela."

"Oh," Dale said understandingly. His eyes told a tragic story and showed every bit of sorrow that was being bottled up inside his tough exterior. "Well, alright then... Be back before dark."

Luke took the mine cart to the Church Grounds and saw Angela already there with lilies in her hands.

"I wanted to bring some flowers for her," she said. Luke smiled and led her to a small tombstone in the graveyard. She read the name engraved on it - _Lola._

"Hey, Mom," Luke said to the grave. "I want you to meet someone super, extra special. This is Angela, the girl I told you about last time."

Angela blushed slightly and did a polite bow. "It's an honor to meet you. I-I brought some flowers for you." She put the lilies in front of Lola's tombstone. It was at that moment that she felt a faint, approving hand on her shoulder. She looked over at Luke, who's right arm was around her waist and the other hanging idly. She glanced behind her. She saw nothing, but felt something, something pure and optimistic that smiled upon her with affection. Angela smiled back, feeling as though she had just communicated with an invisible angel.

* * *

Molly skipped joyously to Gill's house and let herself into the living room area as soon as Gill opened the door. "I had the coolest idea this morning!" Molly exclaimed in her excited, high-pitch voice.

"What is it?" Gill asked, not bothering to complain about her letting herself in someone else's home.

"I can bring my flute next time, and we can play something together with me on my flute and you on the piano! It'll sound amazing!"

"Molly, I'm supposed to teach you how to play piano, not form a duet."

"What?" she pouted. "You're so not fun!" She walked to the other side of the room and started looking at the wall ornaments and picture frames she didn't notice in his house before. Most of the pictures were of the Hamilton jumping up in the air, or of Gill with folded arms and a sour face, but she found one picture that was different from the others. It showed a little blonde boy with closed eyes as he laughed and a pretty blonde woman that had a fair complexion and smiled pleasantly to the camera. The two held each other's hands and looked so happy. "Is this little boy you?" Molly asked Gill, holding out the picture to him.

"Yeah, I was about five or six."

She smiled. "You're were so cute as a kid. Just look at that comb-over!" she giggled. Gill grunted with a red face. "Who is this lady?" she asked, pointing at the blonde woman.

Gill's jaw clenched, and he felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest that he wished would go away. "That's my mother."

"Really? But I haven't seen her around here yet."

"She died not too long after that picture was taken…"

"Oh, Gill, I'm sorry," Molly said gently. "I didn't know. Do you…wanna talk about it?"

"No, thanks," Gill said flatly.

He then walked out of the house door and started walking to the school without Molly. She understood that he must've been hurting and wanted to be alone. So, she followed behind him, keeping a distance so that she could give him enough space. She wished that Gill would've opened up to her about his mother and was honestly disappointed when he seemed to not trust her enough to talk about his deceased mother.

Molly's lesson went on normally. Gill kept scolding her for not keeping her wrists straight and for slouching forward, which lead to minor, hot-headed bickers between them, which ended just as fast as they started.

After practicing for thirty minutes, Molly then mentioned that she had never seen Gill "bust out his skills" and said that he should play her something. Gill initially refused to, but after Molly begged and whined enough, Gill sighed and gave in. He straightened his posture more than it already was and began to play _Moonlight_ by Yiruma while Molly stared at his constantly moving fingers in awe. She shed a single tear from listening to the piano sing smoothly at the command of Gill's skinny fingers. She wiped the tear away quickly before Gill could even notice that it was there. She waited until he was finished before she said, "Yiruma?"

He nodded. "I like to play his music."

"It was beautiful, Gill. Where did you learn to play like this?"

Gill hesitated when he said, "My mother taught me how to play piano."

Molly's body felt stiff. _Shoot,__ I__ shouldn't__ have__ asked __that._She mentally slapped her wrist._Now__ it's __going __to __get __awkward __again! __What __am __I __supposed __to __say __now?_ "She...must've been very talented..."

"She could play just about any thing. I somehow feel...connected to her when I play. Weird, huh?"

Molly shook her head. "I don't think it is." Gill smiled and his hard blue eyes became softer. Molly was happy that Gill was opening up to her. "Did you pray for her at the festival?"

"Yes, I did."

"That's nice. Did you have fun there?"

He frowned, his eyes becoming hard again. "It could've been better. How was your night with Chase?" he asked, saying Chase's name bitingly.

It went unnoticed when she chuckled. "It was lots of fun." She pulled on Gill's arm. "You should've gone with me and Chase!"

"Sorry, didn't want to ruin your 'fun' date," he said bitterly.

"It wasn't a date… We went as friends."

"Yeah, right. Friends. If that is what you prefer to call it."

Molly didn't like Gill's tone and felt one of her rages sneaking out. "Yeah, that's what I prefer to call it because that's what it was!" she snapped. "You should just mind your own business!"

"I think you're just in denial!"

Molly's fists were being closed so tight that it hurt. She was beginning to think she was going to injury it from how hard her hand squeezed, but she didn't stop. "I'm not in denial! Maybe you're just jealous because I'm spending so much time with him!"

"And what if I am?" he growled. Molly froze and her bottom lip trembled when she just stared at Gill, who shocked himself by what he said. She was so angry and became increasingly confused as she tried to figure out what he meant by that and why she couldn't think of an answer for it. She began to walk out of the room, putting all of her weight in each step, when Gill quickly grabbed her forearm. "Wait, where are you going?" he asked, now becoming anxious.

"To find out myself whether it was a date or not." Molly pulled her arm out of his grip and ran out of his sight. Gill rested his elbows on his knees, rubbed his temples and soon followed her trail.

Molly walked to the bar stiffly, taking deep, shaky breaths. She pushed through the bar doors forcefully and dragged Chase outside by his blue apron.

"Hey! What are you trying to do? Get me fired?"

She ignored him and blurted out, "Was last night a date?"

Chase looked at her, puzzled. "Well, yeah. Did you not know that or something? 'Cause…I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the Ocean festival with me…"

Molly thought to herself about how Kasey and Gill were right about Chase. He did like her, and it WAS supposed to be a date, but she brushed that away from her mind, rejecting any idea that Chase, her best friend, could possibly think of her as more. It was an impossible thought. Then, she smiled. _Oh, __I__ get __it! __This __must __be __some __kind __of __game__ Chase __is __playing __with __me. __To __think, __people __would __actually __think __we're __dating! __The __look __on __their __faces __when __Chase __and __I __tell __them__ the __truth __will __be __priceless!_

She thought of how upset Gill would be if he found out she was going to "date" Chase and spend even more time with him. She felt bad at first, but then remembered the mutual anger between them. The fury in her wanted to make Gill upset. The fury began to negotiate with her good reason. Molly's converted good reason now convinced her that there was nothing wrong with what she was doing. What if she were to "date" Chase and spend time with him? She loved spending time with Chase and absolutely loved the idea of pretending to date as a prank, and, like she told Gill, it was none of his business anyways. "I'd love to."

Chase smirked. "You do realize this is a date, right?"

"Of course I do," she said, winking. "I can't wait! Oh, and sorry about just pulling you out of the there and all, Chase. I just really needed to talk to you."

Chase chuckled and said, "It's okay. I'm glad you did now. Hey, do you wanna go back inside with me. I can make you something to eat. It's on the house!"

Molly glanced over Chase's shoulder and noticed Gill. He was hiding very poorly behind a nearby tree, listening to her and Chase. Their eyes met. Gill's pleaded her to decline, but Molly body tensed up, and she looked back into Chase's violet eyes.

"Yeah, sure," she said to Chase, glancing back at Gill, who made a twisted face, turned on his heel reluctantly and started walking back home with his hand in his pockets and his head hung.

Inside the Bar, Molly watched Chase make her a hot dinner expertly, adding various ingredients and spices into a big pot. Once it was ready, he placed a bowl of it in front of Molly. The scent of it was alluring and made Molly's mouth water. She didn't realize how hunger she was. "Alright, fresh bouillabaisse!" Chase said proudly.

"Thanks, Chase," Molly said gratefully. "You know, you didn't have to make me any thing difficult. I would've settled for a turkey sandwich if you gave me one."

Chase smiled. "I wanted to. Why should someone like you have to eat gross, flavorless turkey sandwiches?" He waited for her to taste his food. When she did, her eyes widened, making Chase anxious. "What? Is it bad?"

Molly laughed. "Are you kidding me? This is amazing, Chase! No lie, this is the best thing I've ever tasted!"

Chase blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Gee, thanks. If you like my cooking, you'll love Yolanda's."

"Mmm," Molly hummed as she enjoyed her bouillabaisse. "So, what do you do at the Ocean Festival?"

Chase cleaned off the counters as he spoke. "During the day, there's going to be fishing contests and fish markets at the beach, but most people go to watch the fireworks at night. That's what I wanted to do with you."

"Sounds…romantic," Molly said raising her eyebrows, impressed. _That's __really __gonna__ get __people __going!_

Chase's face flushed too as he nervously laughed. "Yeah, I've never been the romantic type."

She giggled. "Well, it sounds like fun. When is it?"

"In about a week."

The bar door opened and Molly turned around to see who it was. She smiled, "Oh, hi, Maya!" she greeted with a smile.

Chase groaned. _Awesome._

Maya smiled back. "Hey, Molly." She then stopped to take in the scent of Molly's food and suddenly beamed. "Is that bouillabaisse?" she asked.

Molly giggled. "Yep! Chase made it."

Maya's face fell. "Oh, well, it must be tasty, then…"

"Do you want some?" she asked, offering her bowl.

"Oh, you're going to regret those words, Molly," Chase said, shaking his head.

Maya put up her hands. "No, no, no, I don't want any."

Chase tilted his head. "Did you just reject food? Are you sick or something? Because if you are, I don't want you near my kitchen."

"I'm not sick," she said, rather monotone. "Just don't want any."

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, weird. So, why are you here?"

"Granny made me come get another cooking lesson from Chase," she said, speaking as if it were a bane.

Chase groaned. "Can't you come back later or something?"

Maya shrugged. "Okay. I'll come back in an hour, then." With that, she left the Bar without saying another word.

Chase turned back to Molly. "That was really weird."

"What?"

"She's usually excited to get a lesson from me, but just then, she acted like she didn't want one at all."

"Plus, she didn't want any of my food, even when I offered her some. She always wants food…even when she's not hungry. Do you think she really is sick?"

Chase shrugged. "I don't know what else it could be."

Molly took the last bite of her food and sighed in satisfaction. "Well, it's too late for her to have some now!"

Chase chuckled. "I'm glad you liked it," he said, taking her bowl and placing it in the kitchen sink.

"Hey, since we have an hour until Maya gets here, do you think you can give me a cooking lesson too? It's been a while since the last one you gave me."

Chase was happy that she asked, and they began to browse through the cookbook for something to make until they decided on chocolate cake. Molly got the ingredients while Chase set up the kitchen. While making the cake batter, Molly thought it would be funny to slap a handful of flour on Chase's face and started a flour war. When Molly finally capitulated, they were both covered in white flour and laughed hysterically.

"I think you're out of flour now," Molly said, still laughing.

"So much for making a cake," Chase said, laughing too.

"Let's just do the lesson some other time. I just want this flour out of my hair!"

"Oh, let me help you with that." Chase stepped forward and ruffled her hair with his hands, causing big puffballs of flour to escape. Her hair was a giant mess and pointed in every direction when he was done with it, making him laugh even more.

"Chase, it's even worse! How would you like it if I made your hair look like a tumbleweed?" She stood on her tiptoes and tousled his flour-infested hair. "There, now we match." She got off her tiptoes and looked back at his face to find him staring at her with a smirk. He reached out and brushed a spot of flour from her cheek with his thumb. He noticed that her cheeks seemed to increase in temperature the longer he did that, which made his smirk grow. She looked at away, embarrassed, and noticed that the hardwood floor was covered in white powder. "I think we made a mess," she said.

Chase looked around. "We'd better clean this up before Hayden gets on my case." He and Molly cleaned up the mess and brushed the powder off their clothes. "That's definitely going under my top three favorite kitchen experiences," he said.

Molly dusted off the rest of the flour from her faded jeans. "Glad I could make the cut."

Chase heard the door open and saw Maya there. "Did an hour really just go by?" he asked.

"That was fast," Molly agreed. "I guess I should be heading back home, then," she said, disappointed that the fun was over. "What do you say about hanging out again tomorrow?"

"That sounds good to me."

"Good! I'll see ya later, Chase." She hugged him and tousled his hair one last time before starting towards the door where Maya was still standing, her face void of emotion. "Oh, and don't ask him to teach you any thing that involves flour. We sort of used it all," she giggled.

Maya gave her a small smile and nodded. "Bye, Molly."

"See you later," Chase said, waving. He sighed when she left and motioned Maya to follow him back to the kitchen. He cracked the cookbook back open and searched for an extremely simple recipe. "How about we try fried eggs?"

Maya sighed. "Fine."

Chase rolled his eyes in annoyance and grabbed the eggs and a blue bowl, noting Maya's strange silence. She wasn't talking about something meaningless or trying to play with Chase's hair. In fact, she avoided looking at him all together; instead she would look in the other direction or over his shoulder when he talked to her face-to-face.

"I trust you know how to crack an egg?" Chase said, but before Maya could say anything, he said, "On second thought, maybe I should crack the first one so you can observe." He grabbed an egg and tapped it against the bowl. Once it was cracked enough, he opened it with his thumb and let the yoke and egg whites plop into the big, blue bowl. "Now you try," he said, handing her an egg.

Maya tapped it against the bowl, but apparently too hard because it burst open on the first tap, making a mess on the clean counter. She bit her lip and cried a few teardrops, letting them slide down her face. "Can I just go now?" she asked, her voice unstable and quiet. "I'll tell Granny that you already finished teaching me for you."

"You don't want to cook with me today?" Chase asked in surprise and skepticism. He folded his arms across his chest. "Okay, what's wrong with you today? You act like you don't want anything to do with me, which is weird because you're usually all over me."

She shrugged. "Just don't want to talk to you."

"You always want to talk to me."

"Well, now I don't." She began to walk away. "Listen, I'll just go and tell Granny you already gave me my lesson."

Chase grabbed her dress, stopping her pace. "Not so fast. Why don't you want to talk to me?"

"If you let me go, I'll ask Granny to make an orange cake just for you," she said in a low voice.

"Tempting, but I'll pass. Now, tell me," he demanded.

Maya looked at him hard. Her bright, blue eyes were erased of all her silliness and cheer and were instead replaced with hurt and coldness. "Chase, we both know that I'm in love with you, but I'm not going to be around you anymore if you're going to go after another girl." Chase's mouth formed a straight line and his eyebrows became attracted to each other. He knew whom she was referring to automatically. Maya turned around when she felt her throat getting tighter. Her voice cracked when she said, "You have no idea how much it hurts, knowing that the person you love doesn't love you back and instead treats you like crap…"

Chase didn't realize how much he mistreated her and how much of a jerk he was to her until then. He felt like a horrible person. "Sorry… I didn't…"

She sniffled and said, "Bye, Chase." She then ran out of the kitchen and loudly slammed the Bar's door shut, making Chase wince.

Something about that wasn't the same as any other argument he had ever had with her. He took a seat on one of the bar stools near the kitchen, feeling perturbed, and stared sternly at his fingers while they picked at his cuticles.

* * *

Luke and Angela spent the rest of the day together. Angela stopped by the farm to grab her and Molly's fishing poles so that they could go fishing by the old watermill at Flute Fields. They didn't have much luck, but still enjoyed talking about every subject that came to mind while Luke held her in his arms.

Angela stood up and pulled Luke off the ground. "Come on! I have to show you something!" she said. She led him to Garmon Mines and knocked on the Carpentry's door.

"Ang, why are you knocking? Did you forget I live here?" he asked with a chuckle. He opened the door and became puzzled when he saw that the lights were off. He was always told never to leave the lights off because of the dangerous tools they had around. He walked along the wall until he found the light switch and flipped it.

People popped out from behind counters and under tables yelling "SURPRISE!" There was Dale, Bo, Ramsey, Owen, who brought along Kathy with him, and Owen's little cousin, Chloe.

Luke jumped and laughed. "What's going on, guys?"

Owen's laughter boomed throughout the shop. "Looks like Twiggy forgot his birthday again!"

"Hey! I told you, my arms ain't twigs!"

Owen laughed again, but was cut off when Kathy pulled on his ear. "Don't be mean!" she said. "It's his birthday. At least try not to be a jerk."

Owen grinned and turned back to Luke and Angela when Kathy let him go. "She's kinda mad 'cause I almost fell in a pitfall at the mine today."

"The idiot made me worried sick…" Kathy muttered.

Luke chuckled. "At least you know she cares, bro!"

Angela blinked. "What are pitfalls?"

"They're like covered holes in the mines that you can fall through," Luke said.

Owen nodded. "Yeah, they're really dangerous. You don't ever want to fall down one of those things. I've already broken my leg once from falling through one of them last year."

Kathy crossed her arms and scowled. "Usually you'll see an X drawn in the ground covering it. Of course, if you're not paying attention, you won't notice it and fall right through it," she said, directing it straight at Owen.

Owen grinned. "Or just be a beast and grab onto the edge before you fall through like I did today."

"You got lucky."

He shrugged. "I can live off luck."

"Hmph, fine, but when you break something, I'm not going to feel bad and take care of you again like last year!"

Angela giggled. "You both sound as if you're married!"

Kathy blushed. "I… We aren't… I'm too young to get married! I just turned into a senior in high school!"

Owen smirked. "Does that mean you'll marry me after you graduate?"

Kathy's blush became darker. "I-I didn't say that!"

Angela smiled and then led Luke away from everybody into another room. She rummaged through a few boxes on the ground until picking up one with green wrapping paper and a blue bow and held it in front of him. "Happy birthday!"

"Whoa, thanks, Ang! What is it?" Luke asked, shaking the present close to his ear.

"Open it," she said.

He sat down and ripped away the decorative paper and clawed open the box. His eyes were like dinner plates when pulling out his gift. "You…you got me a freakin' golden axe!"

"You like it?"

He carefully put down the axe and quickly crushed Angela in a bear hug. "I LOVE IT!" Angela giggled. Luke loosened his hug to where she could wrap her arms around his neck. "Ang, you're so awesome."

She smiled. "You're awesome too."

Luke grinned and leaned in to kiss her. It felt so right. It was as if their lips were specially designed to for each other. They pulled away momentarily for a breather and exchanged widely stretched smiles. But when Angela began to lean in, Luke thought quickly and interrupted her by saying, "Guess what!"

She stopped and opened her eyes. "What?"

Luke then took his chance and beat her to the kiss she was going to make. It seemed sneaky, but it was the only way from keeping him from winning the bet, and not kissing her wasn't an option for Luke anymore. He just had to hope that Chase or Gill would win…fast.

* * *

**** As you guys know, there is only Molly and Angela for Chase, Luke, AND Gill, meaning that one of the guys isn't going to be with one of the twins. D: And I'm well aware that the fans of the losing bachelor would be pretty sad, so I have officially decided I'm going to write a story just for whichever bachelor doesn't end up with Molly or Angela! I will start writing it when I am finished with this story. So, if you have ideas that could apply to any of the guys (I don't want to spoil this story and reveal who it'll be), then go ahead and leave me some so that I can get a head-start on this story! There is not such thing as a stupid idea to me so suggest whatever you would be interested in reading! Cookies for anybody that gives me an idea for each guy! :P I could maybe use them for my one-shots since I'm having problems lately with coming up with good plots! :`(  
**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing, everyone! :D ****

**UPDATE****: I was really into Yiruma when writing this... Actually I still am. xD Anyways, I picked the piece _Moonlight_ by Yiruma for Gill to play because I think it really reflects his sadness over the loss of his mother. Everything Gill plays on piano will in someway reflect how he is feeling at the moment in this story. Well...there's some info you didn't necessarily need to know! :P**


	15. Collusion Exposed

**** I know... I'm a horrible person for not updating for so long! Sorry about that, guys!  
**

**So, I've had this chapter planned for SO LONG! Since about the time I wrote chapter 3! I'm glad I'm finally able to post it! **

**And I always forget to say that...I DON'T OWN HARVEST MOON! ****

* * *

Chapter 15

Kasey, Molly, and Angela walked to the docks with their fishing poles, ready for a morning of fishing together. It had been years since the last time they went fishing together. They were looking forward to a calm morning to bond and reminisce on good family times.

"Remember when you fell out of the canoe the last time we went fishing?" Angela asked Molly, laughing.

Molly blushed. "Oh, yeah? Well, I remember when Kasey threw a worm at you that day. You screamed so loud that you scared me and made me fall out of the dang canoe!"

Kasey burst into laughter. "You guys are such girls!" Angela pursued her lips and exchanged a look with Molly. Molly nodded with a smirk. They then combined forces to pushed Kasey off the pier they were sitting on and into the crystal clear water. Kasey came up to the surface, wide-eyed, and looked up at his sisters, who were laughing so hard that their sides began to hurt. "Heh, you guys are dead," Kasey said. He pulled himself up, grabbed on to an arm of each of them and tugged.

The girls shrieked when they realized what Kasey did and shrieked again when they felt how ice cold the water was in comparison to the hot summer air. They splashed it in Kasey's face, and once their splash-fight was over, they pulled themselves back onto the pier.

"Well, I planed on looking nice for my festival date, but I guess not!" Molly said.

"I can't believe you're dating Chase," Angela said.

Molly grinned to herself. _Sucker._

They then heard a chuckle from behind them. They turned around and saw Chase.

"Speak of the devil!" Molly exclaimed, running up to him and tackling him in a hug.

Chase shivered when he felt her cold clothes. "Why are you all wet?"

"Somebody dragged me into the ocean," she said, turning around to give Kasey a glare. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"I was thinking we could go out to eat, but maybe you'd like to stop by your place to change first?"

She grimaced at the wet clothes that stuck to her skin. "Yeah, I'd like that." She turned to her siblings. "I'll see you guys tonight!"

When Molly was gone, Angela and Kasey found their fishing poles and cast their lines into the ocean. They sat, still in their wet clothes, as the sun slowly, but surely, warmed their bodies.

"Are you going to compete in the fishing contests today, Kasey?" Angela asked as they fished.

"It looks like it."

"Wow," Angela mused. "Kasey is going to participate in the Ocean Festival? Or a festival for that matter?"

Kasey smirked and shrugged. "I like to fish."

"Hey!" Kasey and Angela heard. They turned around and saw Luke running towards them with a grin, making Angela smile too.

"Hey, it's ole blue hair," Kasey said.

"Mind if I join you guys?"

* * *

"Come on, Maya!" Luna shouted as she tried to drag Maya out from the covers of her bed. "The fireworks are going to start soon!"

"I don't want to go," Maya said, her voice being muffled and sounding unclear. "The Firefly Festival was horrible when I didn't have a date, so why would this be any better? Why don't you two just go without me?"

Bo sighed. "It won't be so bad. Luna and I can stay with you the whole time, if you want."

Maya paused, considering this for a moment, but when she came close to accepting, she changed her mind. "No. Chase is going to be there!"

"There's going to be food there too," Luna said.

Maya poked her head out from the safety of her blanket to look at her pink haired friend. "…What kind of food?"

Luna smirked. "Corn dogs, hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, nachos," she listed, making the foods sound even more marvelous by the way she said them and how she adjusted the volume of her voice, "sausage on a stick, funnel cakes, ice cream, fried Oreos, –"

" – FRIED OREOS? Oh, Goddess, I won't be able to forgive myself if I pass up all of that! Let me get dressed!" Luna and Bo snickered when they left Maya's room. Maya soon had on one of her poofy dresses and practically left Luna and Bo behind as she ran on the way to the beach. "Come on, you slowpokes!"

When Luna and Bo finally caught up with Maya at the beach, they saw that just about everyone was already there, picking the perfect spot to sit for a better view of the fireworks to come that night. The three found their spot close to the shore, but not close enough for the water to spray on them.

Luna scanned the beach. There were numerous food stands that Maya was taking full advantage of, balloons, and lit torches near the entrance. It was much more decorated than what Luna remembered from the year before. There were also more people. She browsed through the people that had already claimed their spot on the beach's soft, yellow sand. Her eyes then caught sight of something mildly interesting to her. _Isn't__ that__ Molly's __brother?_

Kasey was lying down on his back in the sand alone, sunglasses covering his eyes, making it difficult to tell if he was asleep or not. Anissa took notice of Kasey also and giggled. She made her way over to him and nudged his arm with her foot.

"Are you sleeping again?" she asked.

Kasey turned his head, smirked, and slid his shades up just above his forehead. "What, you think I'd sleep through a firework show?"

"With how close they will be launching them from us? I think that would be impossible."

"Hmm, maybe."

Anissa blinked. "Maybe?"

"Mhm. I'm a heavy sleeper."

She laughed covering her mouth with a small hand as she did so. "Okay, maybe."

"Do you want to sit down?" he asked her. "I mean, you're just standing there…"

"Oh, I'm actually here with my parents," she said, gesturing towards the older couple on the other side of the beach.

Kasey looked over and recognized her parents. He thought back on a time he went to Marimba to buy more seeds. Anissa's father, Craig, was a rather cranky, blonde man while his wife, Ruth, always nagged, and smiling was a rarity for her. He looked back at gentle Anissa and wondered how she didn't adopt their attitude.

Kasey shuddered. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to steal you away from them."

She smiled and waved her hand. "Oh, they won't mind. They already have their hands full because of my little brother, Taylor." She sat down next to Kasey.

Kasey shrugged. "Okay, if you say so. So, you decided to not leave the festival to go collect herbs this time, eh?"

"I like a good firework show. And you're actually at a festival instead of slaving in a field?"

"I was already here fishing with my sisters, so I thought I should just stay."

She nodded while absorbing what Kasey said. She glanced around. "So, where is Angela and Molly, then?"

Kasey pointed at two separate spots on the beach that were not too far from each other.

Angela was settled near the entrance with Luke so that they could be close to the torches. Luke was running around in a circle, pretending that his head was on fire, using his flame-printed bandana that he always wore, to make Angela laugh. Molly was acting like a monster by stomping on a freshly made sand city she helped Chase built. Chase laughed uncontrollably as she destroyed the sand city, roaring, "I'm Godzilla!".

Luna observed the sisters too. She took note at how cute Angela and Luke were together, despite her dislike of Luke. She snarled when watching Molly act like an idiot in public like that. _Hmph,__ and __they __call __me__ childish!_ She looked in the background and noticed that Gill was sitting with his arms crossed, staring daggers at Molly and Chase. _This__ is__ ridiculous__… __I__ bet __he__ didn't__ even__ notice__ that__ I'm __here __with __Bo. __Jerk!_

Gill then sprung up from where he was sitting and stalked over to Molly. He grabbed her arm and said sternly, "Molly, we need to talk."

Luna growled and begun to walk over there. Bo was puzzled by what had come over her, but let her go and followed her with his eyes to see what reason she had to leave without warning.

Molly's lively grin faded into an annoyed straight line. "I don't want to talk."

Gill rolled his eyes. "Are you seriously still angry with me? Goddess, you're so splenetic!" Molly only looked at him, deadpan, as if she were a statue. "Is this what you plan to do? Date Chase and ignore me entirely?"

Molly clenched her jaw. This wasn't the kind of reaction she wanted when she decided to pretend to date Chase. This wasn't funny at all. She seized her statue stare and said, "Yeah, well, guess what. I'm not even dating Chase!"

Chase shot his head up. "What?" He stood up and joined them right in time for Luna to prance into the tense group.

"Hey, guys? What's all the fuss?" Luna asked with a fake, cunning smile.

Gill held up a hand to her face. "Not now, Luna."

"Go away. We're talking," Chase said curtly.

Luna let her true feelings be exposed on her face and grunted. She pushed Gill's hand away aggressively and said, "Talking about what? About the bet you, Luke, and Gill made about Molly and Angela?"

Gill's eyes widen as big as they could possibly be, and it felt like his body was frozen. Chase 's jaw flew open, and he gasped. They couldn't believe what they just heard her say. _How__ could __she__ have __known __about __the__ bet?_

Molly snapped her head at Luna. "What are you talking about?"

Luna made a crooked smile. "Gill, Chase, and Luke all made a bet to see who would get kissed by you or Angela first."

Molly glanced at Chase and Gill in betrayal. "Luna, I swear, if you're making this stuff up…"

"Why don't you just ask them yourself, then," she said confidently.

She looked at Gill. "Gill?" He didn't answer; he was too shocked to say a word. She then looked at Chase anxiously. "Chase?"

"I-I…" was all that would come out of his mouth. Every thing he could think of to say would've only made the situation much more worse than it already was.

Molly shook her head. She felt raging tears wanting to migrate to her face. "This has to be a dream… A horrible dream…" She then gasped when she recalled that Luna said Luke was involved in it too. "ANGELA!"

Angela jumped and ran to her, dragging Luke along by his hand. "What? What's wrong?"

"Get Kasey," Molly commanded furiously. "We're leaving right now!"

"What? But why?" Luke asked. "The fireworks are about to start!" He looked at Chase and Gill. "Right, guys? …Guys?"

"Oh, shut up, Luke!" Molly snapped. "I know all about the bet, so you can stay away from my sister now!"

"The…b-bet?"

"Yes, Luke," Luna said, "the one you made with Chase and Gill."

"Okay, what is going on? What is this bet you people are talking about?" Angela demanded.

"These three idiots made a bet to see which one of them could get one of us to kiss them first!" Molly fumed. She had half a mind to punch each one of them in the face. She turned, red-faced, to the boys.

Angela let go of Luke's hand and looked into his cat-like eyes. "Is this true?" she asked below a whisper. She couldn't speak any louder than this, for she feared that if she did, she would burst into tears from betrayal.

Luke panicked, afraid that she would react like how Molly did. "No, Ang, listen to me, please. I tried my best NOT to win this stupid bet! You've gotta believe me…"

He reached for her hand, but Angela took a step away from him. The tears that she didn't want to show were streaming down her cheeks.

She then ran away to Kasey's direction, fighting the urge to look back at Luke. "Kasey!" she managed to cry out as she ran, her voice raspy and cracked.

Luna's face faltered dramatically. She didn't think things would go this far. She thought there would be a simple fight, and then Molly wouldn't talk to Gill anymore, but this wasn't simple; this was creating broken hearts.

"Look at what you guys did to my sister!" Molly cried. "One of you guys wanna to win this bet? Fine! I'll end it for you!" She stormed in front of Chase, grabbed his face, and forcefully kissed him.

It wasn't what Chase was expecting at all, and it definitely wasn't what he wanted at all. Well, he wanted the kiss, but he obviously wanted it when Molly wasn't screaming and breathing fire. The kiss wasn't sweet, but bitter and filled with hatred. He hated that kiss and was happy when Molly pushed him away.

Kasey came in with the scariest face you could ever imagine. It wouldn't have surprised anyone if he spit out acidic saliva.

Behind him, in the background, was Angela, watching Luke from where she sat in the sand. She didn't want to believe that her Luke would do this. Anissa was trying to calm Kasey down and keep him away from the boys that she knew he severely wanted to hurt. It was very like her to want to keep the peace in a conflict.

Kasey walked straight to Chase, Luke, and Gill, and he punched each of them in the face, making them fall to the ground. It happened so quite that they didn't have much time to react until they were already on the ground. Kasey rubbed his hand because of how hard he hit them. "I better not see you guys near my sisters again," he grunted.

Anissa sighed and pulled him away. "Molly," she said, "I think Kasey would like to leave now. I don't suppose you would mind coming, would you?"

Molly glared at Chase, Luke, and Gill. "Sure. There's nothing left here I want to see."

Luke rubbed his face and gazed in horror as Angela left the beach with Anissa, Kasey, and Molly. He saw Bo and Maya rushing towards him, Chase, Gill, and Luna. Bo helped Luke off the ground. Maya, forgetting about how she wanted to avoid him, pulled Chase off the ground. Gill refused to get help off the ground. He just sat there with his hands gripping his head as he had developed a terrible migraine. Bo was confused about the whole incident. He couldn't hear what had happened, but from what he saw, Luna had something to do with it.

Maya was freaking out about the redness from where Chase was punched. "Oh, my Goddess, Chase… Look, it's swelling!" she said as if she was looking at a cancerous tumor on Chase's face.

"Ease up, Maya," Chase said rather calmly. "I got punched… I'm not dying."

"You're hurt. You might as well be!" she argued.

Luna felt tremendous guilt over what she had started. She didn't know it would get so out of hand. "Guys…I -"

"Thanks, Luna," Gill snapped with sarcasm. "Just thanks. You can go now."

Luna felt like she was just stabbed in the heart. She had to turn to someone else that would possibly understand and forgive her for what she had done. "Bo?"

Bo didn't answer her.

* * *

**** You weren't expecting any of that, were you? You did? Oh, okay... Dx  
I told you there would be drama in this chapter! What do you think is going to happen now? :O**

**Thank you to everyone that voted in my one-shot poll. It is officially closed, and I have replaced it with a poll that isn't very important. I just needed something to put on there so that my profile doesn't look so naked. xD  
If you didn't know already, I've post my Luke x Molly one-shot. It's called Eager, so feel free to look at that.**

**Anywho, thanks for reading and thank you so much for the reviews you send me! They warm my heart. :) **  
**


	16. The Aftermath

**** This chapter focuses mostly on Angela. This chapter was originally going to be A LOT longer than this, but I decided that it would've been too long. The other part will be in the next chapter.** ******

* * *

Chapter 16

Angela looked down at her cow with sad eyes as she stroked its brown coat. It mooed and wagged its tail, enjoying being petted.

Angela said to her cow, "I haven't seen much of you since I started dating Luke, huh, Brownie?"

Brownie mooed, as if saying, "I know."

Angela smiled, but it retreated as soon as she said, "Looks like you're going to be getting a lot of attention from me now…"

Angela felt like she split in half after what happened at the beach. It had been only two days since it happened, and she already missed Luke. She missed his goofy personality, the way he would do something silly or outrageous just to make her smile, the feeling of his leather gloves touching her skin. Heck, she even missed his messy, blue hair and the bandana he always wore on top of it.

But she told herself that she shouldn't see Luke. He tricked her, used her for a stupid bet! How could he do that to her? But even so…she wanted to see him. It confused her. How could she still desperately want to see the reason why she was experiencing a vortex of emotions that ranged from fury to despair? He was the reason why she couldn't sleep that night. It didn't make sense to her. So, she thought of a solution that could end the vortex of emotions and keep her from wanting to see him at the same time: to not think of him at all. It seemed foolproof to Angela. If she just kept her mind off of the blue haired boy, then she could go on with her life in peace.

As she exited the barn, she tried her best to erase all thoughts of Luke from her brain. She grinned, happy that she had thought of the idea. She joined Kasey and Molly outside in the field. Kasey was carrying crates of fresh produce into the shipping box.

"Hey," Angela said. "Do you need any help?"

"Nah, that's alright," Kasey said. "I'm just finishing up."

Angela watched Molly use her sickle on the pesky weeds on the field. Molly not only used the sickle to remove the weeds, but also to channel her left over anger from the night before into something productive. With every swing of the sickle, she would mumble things like, "That's what you get, idiot!" or "I BET that hurt!" or just yell, "Asshole!" with rage. Angela could see Molly's face, which said "Come near me and I will punch you in the face", so she made sure she didn't say anything to her.

While watching, she could've sworn that Molly's hair had changed from its usual brown to a blue that was identical to Luke's hair color. Angela rubbed her eyes and looked again to see that Molly's hair was, once again, brown. _That__ was__ weird__…_

"You okay?" Kasey asked her. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

Angela then saw Kasey's hair flash quickly from brown to blue then back to brown again. The blue reminded her of Luke and she scolded herself quietly for thinking about him. "N-No, I'm okay. I think I'm just gonna to take a walk around town to…clear my head."

* * *

Gill selected a green book from his overpopulated bookshelf and started writing.

_Summer 19_

_Dear Diary,_

_It has been two grueling days since what happened at the Ocean Festival. I have never felt so guilty before… Stupid Luna. Why did she have to expose us like that? It was so uncalled for! Now I have a black eye from Molly's brute of a brother. Molly… I'm sure she doesn't want to talk to me or Chase anymore. If she can get mad over small, stupid things, then just imagine how angry she is now. I can imagine that she would forgive Chase. They are, or were, best friends. I don't know how she could forgive me. I don't think she ever will… It almost makes me sad to think that she won't…_

* * *

Angela walked, trying to cloud the thought of Luke with random things. She thought of many things like roses and the color pink. _Roses__ smell __so __good __and __sweet. __And __they're __so__ pretty __too!__ I __love __pink __roses __because __they __are __pink, __and __pink __is __my __favorite __color._

She went on and on in her head. When she finally looked around to see where she was, she was in front of Sonata Tailoring. She realized that she had never actually set foot in the shop and went in. There were mannequins dressed in such silky dresses, and there were shelves that had a collection of well-made, shiny clothes. The colors of these clothes were vibrant, and one couldn't help but be in a good mood when gazing upon them.

"Hello…" a sheepish voice said. It was Candace, Luna's older sister. "D-Do you need h-help?"

Angela flinched at the sight of Candace's blue hair, but relaxed when she realized that Candace's blue hair was much lighter, much different than what she saw on Kasey and Molly.

"Oh, n-no. I was just looking at your inventory… How… How do you make your clothes so…beautiful?"

Candace blushed. "I-I make most of our clothes with silk."

"Silk? What about cotton or wool?"

Candace fidgeted with her fingers nervously. "W-W-Well, we make our own silk… B-Buying wool and cotton gets really expensive…"

Angela blinked, curious in what she was talking about. "You make silk? How do you do that?"

"With s-silkworms," she said, smiling slightly. "We make it from their cocoons."

Angela's stomach started to feel funny. "Blah, I don't do well with bugs…"

Candace giggled. "They aren't gross like spiders or cockroaches. They're very cute! I c-could show you if you'd like..." Angela decided to take shy Candace's word for it and let her show her where they keep the silkworms. "And this one is my own silkworm, Mona," she said, holding the silkworm in her hands.

Angela looked at it with interest, but still kept a good distance in case the silkworm were to suddenly decide to jump on her. Though, Angela did start to slowly see what Candace meant by cute. It wasn't green or brown like other bugs; it was white. It wasn't even slimy like the kind of worms she imagined.

"So," Angela said, "that little thing…makes silk?"

Candace nodded. "You're staring at Mona. Do…you want to pet her?"

"Uhh," Angela nervously laughed, "I don't think I should. I'm well known for being a bug squishing pro..."

"It'll be okay," Candace said. That was the most confident thing she had ever heard Candace say. "…I trust you."

Angela took a deep breath and held it in while she hesitantly reached her hand out to touch the silkworm. When her hand made contact, it stayed there for a whole ten seconds before she pulled away. She was smiling. "I touched it."

Candace giggled again. "And you didn't hurt her either."

"I'm kinda surprised I haven't thrown up already," Angela laughed.

Angela visited the Sonata Tailoring every day for the rest of that week. She and Candace grew closer as friends with each day. They got along so well and wondered how they didn't become best friends before.

During one of her visits and shop, Angela noticed Luna restocking the shelves with folded silk clothes. She looked rather gloomy and melancholy. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, which was very strange to find on Luna, who was always groomed and clean, especially when it came to her hair. Angela felt sympathy for her, so she walked over and asked her what was wrong.

"Oh…" Luna said. "I'm just still upset about what happened at the festival last week…"

Angela tensed up. She wasn't in the mood to talk about the festival, but she couldn't just leave Luna there, knowing that she was upset. She didn't have the heart to do that, so she sucked it up and allowed herself to think of the incident and the people who were involved. She couldn't recall Luna having a boyfriend or anything involved with the bet. "Why would you be upset?" Angela asked.

"I'm the one that told Molly about the bet and started the whole mess in the first place…" she said with a shame-filled sigh. "Now Bo won't talk to me…"

"Because you told Molly about the bet?"

"No…because I pretty much ruined you and Luke's relationship."

"Oh, that…"

Luna saw the sadness forming in Angela's eyes. She felt the guilt she had built up the entire time since the day at the beach, so she looked down to avoid looking at Angela. "I hope you know that I'm really sorry… I didn't think things would blow up like that."

Angela sighed. "I forgive you, Luna, and…I want to thank you too."

"W-What? Why?"

"If you didn't tell us about the bet, me and Molly would still be little toys in their dumb game. So, thank you. If Molly were here, she would probably be thanking you too."

Luna smiled, showing some of her tiny, little teeth. "Thank you, Angela. You have no idea how much better that made me feel!"

Angela smiled too. "Glad I could cheer you up!"

* * *

"Quit touching it!" Chase yelled at Kathy and Maya, whom were both holding ice packs in their hands.

"How 'bout you quit squirming like a child!" Kathy snapped at him.

Maya jumped on top of Chase and held him down. "Quick, Kathy!"

"Get off me, you cow!" Chase growled at Maya. Kathy rushed to Chase's side and pressed an ice pack on his cheek where it was a painful, dark purple. He winced at the coldness. "Can't you two just leave it alone? It's not that bad."

"Yeah, that huge thing doesn't look bad at all," Maya said. Chase glared up at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Stop being a baby, and let us help you." Kathy said.

"I don't need help," Chase said through his teeth.

Maya sighed. "The ice pack should help the bruise go away faster." She got off of Chase. "But what do I know? I mean, it's not like I asked Dr. Jin or anything," she said sarcastically. "I'll just put it back in the freezer," she said, taking baby steps towards the freezer, waiting for him to change his mind and stop her.

Chase touched the dark mark on his right cheek. He really did want it to be gone. "Damn it," he said under his breath. He then snatched the ice pack from Maya and pressed it onto his cheek.

"Kasey sure did pack a punch on you three! I can understand why he got so mad though..." Kathy said.

Chase became uncomfortable. He lost a friend and what he thought was his girlfriend that day. It had felt like eternity since he spent time with her. He wanted to see Molly and talk about what had happened, but he was honestly nervous about how Molly would react to seeing him. He heard about when she threw a chair at Kasey, so what would she do to him? _Maybe__ I __need __to __wait __a __bit __for __her __to __cool __down.__ That __would__ be __the__ smart __thing __to __do._

"Let's talk about something else…"

* * *

The next day that Angela visited Sonata Tailoring, she saw a purple haired someone that she did not expect to run into.

"Julius?" she called to the person, who was browsing through a selection of decorative fabrics.

He turned around and beamed. "Hey, Angelina!"

"Angelina?"

"No offense, but Angela isn't saucy enough for me. Now, Angelina has some flare to it!"

Angela didn't take any offense In fact, she smirked and let out a small giggle. That was just how Julius was: he always wanted to make things fabulous and glamorous. "Why are you here, Julius?"

"I was getting ready to ask you the same thing. I'm here to buy some new fabulous looking fabrics and clothes while I'm on my lunch break. You definitely need to come visit me today! I can show you all of the jewelry I've designed. They really are pieces of art, if I do say so myself. If you want, we can even talk more about how much of a slut Selena is, just like in dance class! Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Angela was uncertain at first because to get to the Accessory Shop she would have to go to the Garmon Mine District, where Luke lived, but Angela then remembered that Luke would never willingly step foot in an accessory shop. The only thing Luke had that was close to a piece of jewelry was the shark-tooth necklace he wore every day. She and Julius didn't run into Luke on the way to the shop, which relieved her.

Julius kept his promise and showed her a display with all of the jewelry and also showed her how Mira, the shop owner, refined wonderfuls and ores. It made her want to go to the mines for wonderfuls and ores just to watch Mira refine them.

Angela's schedule for the rest of that week kept her happily preoccupied. Her days consisted of doing her daily chores on the farm with Kasey and Molly, going to the Tailor's, and then spending the rest of her time with Julius at the shop. She was thankful that she wasn't completely depressed and cooped inside of the house after what happened at the beach with Luke. But…she still wondered about Luke, what he was doing, if he was thinking of her, if he was thinking of someone else… She didn't like thinking about the latter.

As Angela made her way to the Accessory Shop on a sunny Wednesday evening, she saw what she feared to see: Luke. He was sitting on the side of the Carpentry building next to Owen. He wore a frown as he drew things into the dirt below him with a stick and listened to Owen talk.

Angela thought about turning around and going home, but Julius was expecting her. She couldn't let him down. With all of her strength, she walked forward, trying not to look at in Luke's direction.

Luke gasped when he saw her. He jumped onto his feet and ran to her. "Angela!"

Angela kept walking forward and felt a lump in her throat when she forced herself not to answer him.

"Ang, please talk to me!" he begged. He grabbed her hand in his, but she pulled away reluctantly.

"I don't want to talk," she said. She continued to walk away, leaving Luke behind.

Luke went back to his spot by Owen, feeling defeated. "She still won't talk to me…"

"You're probably not gonna like this," Owen started, "but she's been hanging out with that Julius guy a lot recently."

Luke snorted. "Are you sayin' that he's got a crush on her or something? Angela wouldn't go out with that guy. I know her. There's just no way."

Owen shrugged. "All I'm saying is if you're still coo-coo bananas over her, then you better do something to get her back before it's too late." Owen got off his feet. "My lunch break is 'bout to be over. Say, where's Bo been? I always see him out here during my break, but I haven't seen him for almost two weeks."

"Oh, he's been moping around inside lately. Pretty sad."

Owen rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, this island is becoming overrun by depressed zombies!"

* * *

Molly went inside the farmhouse to take her nightly shower, but instead of standing like how she and other people normally took a shower, she was sitting in the bathtub as the hot water poured on top of her head and streamed down her face.

For the first time that day, she wasn't angry with Chase or Gill; she felt lonely. Her lips were trembling and her nose was starting to run. She didn't want to cry in front of Angela; she wanted to be strong for her sister. She didn't want to see herself cry; she wanted to convince herself that she didn't miss Chase and Gill at all.

The hot water hid the truth of whether she was crying. She didn't want to know the truth.

* * *

**** Sorry if it seemed to just jump randomly to different events. :S I couldn't figure out where to put Gill's and Chase's scenes in this chapter and I didn't want to just leave them out of this chapter. Anywho, thanks for reading! ****


	17. Night of Emotions

**** I didn't read over this chapter very thoroughly, but I still hope you like it! :) ****

* * *

Chapter 17

"It's amazing how long you can stay mad," Kasey told Molly after watching her reap the weeds aggressively. "I'm sure that deep down you miss those two, just like how Ang misses Luke."

"I don't miss those two losers," she lied.

"Good, 'cause I don't want both of you to see them, anyways," he said seriously.

Molly's lip quivered for a moment, but she ignored it. "Fine by me…" she said gravely. "Hey, do you want to go out to eat at the Bar tonight? I'm getting tired of eating at the house."

"Doesn't Chase work there?"

"We can go before his shift, duh!"

Kasey sighed. "Sounds good, but I can't."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I was going to hang out with Anissa."

Molly gave him a look. "You better not be trying anything on her!"

"I've told you before, I'm not trying any thing on this girl. We're just friends."

"Fine, whatever you say. I guess I can go out to eat by myself. I need some alone time after hanging out with you for almost two weeks, anyways."

Later that day, Molly went to the bar and noticed Ramsey and Dale a few tables over, drinking their cocktails and laughing loudly and obnoxiously at a hilarious joke that Molly couldn't hear from where she was at.

She thought back on how good Kasey's blueberry cocktail tasted when he gave her a sip.

Her subconscious told her to resist, but she convinced herself otherwise. _It's__ not __like __I'm __going __to __get __drunk __from __one __drink. __I __have __more __control __than __that!_

"Howdy, Molly!" Kathy greeted cheerfully, like always. "What can I get ya?"

"C-Can I start off with a blueberry cocktail?"

* * *

Chase walked into town, kicking a rock along the way, when he saw Gill. Gill had his back to Chase, for he was locking Town Hall's front door.

Chase thought about walking past him and not saying a word to him, but now that there was no bet, there was no more competition between them. Now that Molly wouldn't talk to both of them, it seemed ridiculous to still not talk to each other. He couldn't even remember the last time he actually had a good conversation with Gill.

"Hey, Gill," he said.

Gill jumped and turned around. "Oh, hey, it's you," he exhaled. "You startled me."

Chase stuffed his hands in his pockets, hoping it would somehow make their conversation less awkward. He looked at his face, and his eyes caught Gill's black eye. It was still dark, but had lightened quite a bit.

"That black eye looks good on you," Chase chuckled.

Gill smirked. "Your bruise doesn't look too bad either."

They laughed quietly until it died off and left the two silent again. Chase broke the silence when he sighed and said what was on both of their minds. "You know…we used to be good friends until that bet…"

"Yeah, we were…"

Chase nodded. "Maybe we could start things over?" He offered his hand.

Gill smiled and shook his friend's hand. "I'd like that a lot. I'm glad the bitterness is over."

"Hey, how about you come with me to work, and I'll whip you up dinner on the house!" Chase said enthusiastically.

Gill hesitated, considering how dark it was getting outside. He didn't want to be out too late. "Oh, I think I'll have to pass, Chase."

Chase smirked confidently. "I'll make tomato risotto," he said teasingly.

Gill's mouth watered and he gave in. "Well…I haven't ate yet…"

They walked to the Bar, talking quietly, but it seemed like they were yelling because of how silent the streets of Harmonica Town were. It was getting dark quickly, and the sun still had a rim of orange light in the sky as it set and reluctantly welcomed the moon and stars.

"You won," Gill said out of nowhere.

Chase knew exactly what he was talking about. "I don't care anymore."

Gill understood. "Do you think she hates us?" he asked with an unsteady voice.

Chase let out an exasperated sigh. "I wouldn't doubt it, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see her, explain…"

"I don't want to see her," Gill said sternly.

Chase furrowed his eyebrows. "Why not?"

Gill gave him a look as if he just asked the stupidest question that anyone could ever ask. "She hates us. She hates me. I feel so guilty about all of this, Chase. If she even gives me a dirty look, I won't be able to take it."

Chase looked over Gill as if he were a totally different person. This wasn't the Gill he knew.

They arrived at Brass Bar, and Gill sat at the bar in front of the kitchen so that he could watch Chase cook his food. The aroma of the food was practically intoxicating to Gill.

"_This__ is__ what __Heaven __must __smell __like__…_" Gill thought.

"Molly! Those aren't you're drinks!" Kathy yelled from the other side of the room.

Gill and Chase jumped, and their eyes got wide when hearing Molly's name. They didn't even see Molly when they entered the Bar. Molly was sitting at a small table for two with a dozen empty cocktail glasses that flooded the wooden surface. She was desperately reaching for the cocktails on the tray Kathy was carrying.

"You've had way too much to drink tonight, anyways!" Kathy said. "You're pulling a Kasey!"

"I am nooot! Juuust one mooorrre!" Molly said with slurred words.

She reached out for the tray, and her hand caught the edge of it and dragged it out of Kathy's control and onto the floor. Kathy gasped at the shards of broken cocktail glasses. Molly tried getting up from her chair, but she began to stumble. Hayden and Chase rushed over to control her and make sure she didn't fall over on the glass. Gill lagged behind and went straight to Kathy's side to help her pick up the larger pieces of glass from the hardwood floor, trying to keep a comfortable distance away from Molly.

Hayden saw others in the room staring at the scene. He waved his hands. "Every thing is under control," he reassured the other customers. "Molly's smashed. Gill, take her home while we clean up here."

"I'm not druuunk!" Molly protested, but was ignored by the others.

"Sir, I can take her home," Chase piped up, knowing that Gill didn't want to be around her.

"Y-Yeah, Chase can go, or even Kathy. I can stay and help clean up," Gill said.

Hayden shook his head in disapproval. "I can't have our only cook and waitress unavailable, and I certainly can't have a customer cleaning up our mess. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Gill. Next time you come, you can have whatever you want! How 'bout that?"

Gill groaned. He felt trapped. He didn't want to do this, but she was drunk, reckless, and going to hurt herself. He definitely didn't want her to get hurt, so agreeing to take her home was a sure way to make sure she wouldn't. "Fine… I'll do it."

Gill had Molly by the wrist pulling her towards the farm as she squirmed around to get out of Gill's grasp.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked.

"Molly, you're drunk. Just let me take you home."

"Naah, uhh! If I waas druuunk, then Mom and Dad would be maaaad at me!"

Gill rolled his eyes. Drunken Molly was getting on his nerves, but he was glad that she wasn't screaming that she hated him or anything. He figured maybe the alcohol made her forget of her hatred of him. "You don't live with your parents," he reminded her.

"Buuut, when they finally contact us, Imma be sooo happy and end up telling them EVERYTHING that's happened since me and Angie have been here!" Molly said with a huge grin held on her face.

Gill furrowed his eyebrows and stopped dead in his tracks. "Are you saying that you haven't spoke to your parents since you located here?"

"Duuuh! Thaaat's why I'm gonna be sooooo happy when they contact us!"

Gill was growing more and more suspicious. "Why didn't your parents move here with you and your sister?"

"Yooou are asking lots of questions, Gilly!" Molly pinched his cheeks.

He swatted her hands away from his face and said with a stern tone, "Just answer the question."

"They said we'd be happier here than in the city. Haappy, Gilly?"

Gill wasn't happy. His jaw was clenched, and he had to take deep breaths to keep him from exploding with rage. "What, so they just dump you here and never speak to you again? Not even a hello?"

Molly flinched, and her face turned sour. She pulled her arm away aggressively, making Gill lose his grip on her wrist. "They didn't abandon us! They didn't!" she hissed, her voice beginning to sound raspy.

"Then what did they do? They dumped you here and don't make an effort to talk to you again. That seems like abandonment to me!"

Tears brutally invaded Molly and she felt a feeling of fear and panic overwhelm her. She ran away from him, from the truth, but soon fell.

Seeing her breakdown like that made the rage exit Gill's body. He had never seen this side of Molly, a scared and tortured girl that, this whole time, denied the thought that her parents would abandon her. It was unusual to see this from her. Gill was used to her being giggly, childish, or hot-headed. He would rather her scream how much she hated him than to see her like this.

He knelt down cautiously by Molly. She saw him there and yelled, "No! Just shut up!" She then smashed her ears with her hands, preparing for what she thought Gill was going to continue to say. "They still love me! They still love me! They still love me!" she repeated.

Gill couldn't help but think that she was in someway talking about not only her parents, but also Chase and himself. He too would feel unloved if he found out he was being used because he was apart of a bet made by people he knew and trusted. It broke his heart to see her like this.

He grabbed her hand, and, despite her hitting and protesting against him, he wrapped his arms around her and held her. Molly's will to resist him vanished. Her arms suddenly went around him, and her fingers dug into his back. She buried her face in his chest and wept, letting his clothes soak up the stream of tears that refused to dry up.

"You hurt me," she said through her sobs. "You both hurt me that day…"

"We're so sorry," he sincerely said. "We truly are."

Molly held onto him tighter. "You don't know how unloved I felt…"

"You're loved, Molly," Gill whispered into her ear. "Trust me."

* * *

Angela carried her hammer on her shoulder as she walked to Garmon Mines. She couldn't believe she was doing this. She was going to the mines, just for an excuse to walk past Luke's house and have a small chance of seeing Luke sitting outside of it. It was Thursday and every shop in the Garmon Mines District was closed, so there was a pretty decent chance that Luke would be outside. She was ashamed of herself. She completely broken her rule of not thinking of Luke, but she couldn't help but break that rule a thousand times a day.

She was coming close to Luke's house, and she became nervous. What if he really was outside? Should she talk to him? What if he tried talking to her? Should she reject him? Those questions dropped when she walked by the Carpentry. No Luke. The only movement that she saw was a curtain swaying back and forth from the inside of the Carpentry as if someone had just touched it.

She was relieved yet disappointed that he wasn't outside. "_It__'__s __getting __dark. __I __guess __it __would __make __sense __that __he'd __be __inside__ by __now__…_" Angela thought.

She went on to the mines and started searching and smashing rocks one by one for stone, ore, and wonderfuls. She had a weird feeling, like she wasn't alone, but she brushed that feeling aside. She looked over a little to the right and noticed a marking in the ground.

"A pitfall trap," she said to herself when she remembered the time Owen told her about when he fell through one of those and broke his leg.

She continued to smash rocks and boulders, thinking about when Luke once helped her collect stone for her house upgrade. The flashback made her smile and distracted her from her surroundings while she made her way to another rock to smash.

Suddenly, she took a wrong step onto a pitfall trap. She was a split second from falling through it when caught onto the ledge with one hand. She screamed. Then, a hand appeared, took hold of the hand Angela was using to keep herself from falling through, and pulled her out. She gazed upon her savior and gasped when she recognized him.

"Luke."

* * *

**** This story is getting close to the end. UGGHHH, I like writing this story too much though! Maybe a few more chapters left! D`: ****


	18. Forgiveness is Blissful  Part 1

**** This chapter seems so short to me... The next chapter is almost finished. I highly doubt it will take more than a day or two to finish!**** ****

* * *

Chapter 18

"Sheesh, Ang! You gave me a heart attack!" Luke panted, his body bent over and his hands on his knees.

Angela didn't pay much attention to what Luke said. Instead, she sat next to the pitfall trap hole that she almost fell through, trying to process what had just happened. Luke just saved her as if he were some sort of guardian angel. It was like something she would imagine to be in a movie; it was so unreal.

"W-Where did you come from?" she stammered.

Luke nervously laughed. "Uhh, promise you won't get mad, 'kay?"

Angela looked at him incredulously. "Mad about what?"

"Well, you see, I kinda, sorta, might've followed you here."

She sprung to her feet. "WHAT?"

Luke held up his hands in defense mode, bracing himself in case Angela decided to slap. "Don't freak out! I saw you walking around from my place, and I was going to try talk to you again like last time, but then I got nervous about what I was going to say because I didn't want to screw this up! So, I kinda ended up following you while I tried to think of something to say…"

Angela sighed and gave a halfhearted smile. "Well, I guess I should say thanks and all for saving me and stuff…"

Luke grinned. "That's okay. I'm just glad you didn't fall through that thing, and plus, you're actually talking to me. This is the most we've talked in two weeks!"

She shook her head. "One week and five days…" she whispered.

"Y-You've been counting?" Luke asked, surprised that she would even care to count the days.

Angela felt a blush sneaking up on her cheeks. Embarrassed, she turned around to hide her face. "I should be getting home now…"

Luke gasped. "But you never gave me a chance to explain myself!"

"It's getting late, Luke," she insisted. "I can't go wondering home in the dark."

"Then, I can walk you home! Please, wait. I'm really sorry, Ang! I never meant to hurt you. I really didn't try to win that bet. I even tried to stop the whole thing once, but they thought I was playing some sorta trick on them! And you should've seen me after our first kiss. You can ask Bo, I was freaking out because I thought I won and had taken advantage of you! That's when I found out that the only other way I couldn't win was if I didn't let you kiss me. Think back, can you think of one time that you've ever kissed me? I'm pretty sure you can't 'cause I was making sure that you wouldn't! Please, you've gotta believe me!"

Angela turned around and revealed her trembling lips and her melting eyes. "I always did wonder why you seemed to never let me kiss you…"

Luke slowly closed the gap between them and gently grabbed her small hand. He looked down into her big, brown eyes and found that his lips were curling upwards. "I love you Angela…so much."

The thousands of butterflies that were in Angela's stomach fluttered, her heart skipped a beat, and she felt a lump in her throat that gave a clear warning for tears - all from hearing those words.

"I love you too," she chocked out.

Luke then pressed his lips to her's as if they were both magnets. Angela was more than satisfied that he did and began to hook her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her.

He pulled back to look at Angela's face. His grin became even larger. "Does this mean that you forgive me?"

She giggled and leaned in, kissing him for the very first time.

* * *

Gill waited until Molly calmed herself down before continuing to take her home. Her eyes were still red, but she didn't care because now she wasn't crying so hard that it made it difficult to breathe. Molly had to keep her arm around Gill's shoulders to maintain her balance as she walked and stumbled. But as they had just crossed the bridge separating the farm and Harmonica Town, Molly took her arm off, bolted to the nearest patch of grass, and fell to her knees and hands to vomit.

Gill shuddered, wishing he didn't have to see that. "Must be all those cocktails you had tonight."

Molly responded with a moan once she was done. She recognized the horrible aftertaste you get from vomiting and felt completely drained after all that had happened to her that night. She could fall asleep right on the side of the road if she wanted.

"I don't think you should walk anymore…" Gill said when noticing her pale complexion. He bent down and scooped her up in his arms and began to walk.

A vague smile came over Molly when she was aware that Gill was carrying her. She thought about following her stubborn side and insisting that she could walk the rest of the way, but she didn't when she found out how soft Gill's sweater vest was.

"Mmm, I loooove sweater vests," she murmured, rubbing her cheek on the fabric. Gill laughed lightly under his breath. Molly rested her head against his chest and was about to try fall asleep when she noticed a loud thumping sound. It took a minute to realize that it was actually Gill's heart. She looked up and saw small beads of sweat on his forehead. "Am I heeeaaavvvy or somethiiing?" she asked. " Because you're sweeaaating and your heart is going craaaazy over here! Like THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!"

Gill blushed. "I-It's just the summer heat."

Molly smirked. "I think that's just an excuuuse! It's probably your arms; they're pretty skiiinnny, Gilly-poo!" she giggled.

Gill only rolled his eyes. "I'm going to let that slide because you're drunk and tired right now."

"Oooooh! What were yooou gonna do? Hit me with your skinny arms?" she taunted him.

"I don't have to take you home, you know."

Molly snickered and pinched one of Gill's cheeks. "Oooh, I'm just playing, Gilly-poo! Don't be sooo sensitive!"

He sighed. "Would you please stop calling me that?"

Molly giggled and shook her head, only to make Gill sigh again. She yawned and felt how truly tired she was when her eyelids became heavy. She nuzzled against the soft sweater vest she loved, and soon her breathing slowed.

Gill walked a little further, and then the farm came clear into sight. He could see Kasey in front of the farmhouse, talking to Anissa, who seemed to be laughing from what he could see.

All humor faded from Kasey's face when he saw Gill carrying Molly towards him. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH MY SISTER?" He made Gill's trip easier by going to him with Anissa following close behind. He saw Molly asleep and mistaken it for her being unconscious. Kasey gritted his teeth.

"Kasey, calm down," Anissa urged. "She's only asleep, but she does look very pale and clammy," she observed.

Kasey tore Molly from Gill's arms. She peeked her eyes open and let out a whimper. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" Kasey asked furiously.

Gill grunted. "She got drunk at the Bar, and I had to escort her home. A thank you would be nice."

Kasey carefully handed the half-awake Molly to Anissa. "Can you take her inside?"

Molly exhaled dreamily and quickly began to fall asleep again, unaware of what was going on outside of the dream world.

Anissa's lips made a straight line. "I hope you're going to thank him."

Kasey smirked and grabbed Gill by the collar. "Oh, I'm going to thank him!"

"Kasey, stop it!" she demanded. For calm and tranquil Anissa, this was the closest to getting angry with Kasey she had ever been, which wouldn't be very much if compared to how much others get angry.

Kasey unwillingly receded. "You stay away from sisters," he warned Gill, "and that goes for all three of you guys that screwed over Molly and Angela." He didn't wait for a response from Gill before he stormed inside the farmhouse.

"Whatever," Gill grumbled under his breath.

Anissa frowned. "Don't think he isn't thankful. He is very thankful to you right now."

"Hmph, he sure has a funny way of showing it."

"He just cares for Molly and Angela very deeply; they're all he has right now in his life. He may still be angry with you for what happened, but I know that he's grateful that you brought Molly home safely."

"I guess… If you don't mind, can you do me a favor?"

Anissa tilted her head. "Sure, what is it?"

"Can…can you tell Molly that there's a piano lesson on Sunday at noon?" Gill asked hesitantly.

Anissa smiled sincerely. "Of course."

He looked at Molly, who was now asleep soundly in Anissa's arms. "Good night, then."

* * *

"Does it still hurt?" Angela asked Luke as he took her home like he said he would, having her arm comfortably around his.

"What?"

"Your eye."

He chuckled. "Oh, this?" He pointed to his black eye, which was getting lighter as the days went by. "Nahh, I'm tough! Nothing can hurt me!"

Angela giggled, but then the giggles faded when she thought of something. "Kasey would never allow us…"

Luke saw Angela cast a frown filled with sorrow and was quiet for a moment. "What do you think we should do?"

She shook her head. "I don't know… If I could somehow convince him…"

"What if we told him about what happened in the mine earlier with the pitfall trap?" he asked, hopeful.

"Not we," she said disapprovingly. Luke gave her a questioning look, so she explained herself. "Unless you want another black eye, I should be the one to tell him, but maybe he would listen if I tell him about that..."

"And if he doesn't?"

Angela bit her lip. "Then, I don't care."

Luke raised an eyebrow and said with a chuckle, "Whoa, you sounded so rebellious right then. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving this, but you aren't a very rebellious person."

"I know…but I have to be right now. I don't want to stop seeing you…"

Luke grinned, glad the feeling was mutual. They came close to the farm and were only a few feet from reaching the back of the farmhouse. "I guess this is where I drop you off," Luke said. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"You will," she promised. She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "Good night, Luke."

Angela made her way into the farmhouse, unknowingly wearing a satisfied and dreamy smile. "I'm home!" she called. Kasey was asleep on the living room sofa, snoring. Anissa came into the room from the twins' bedroom to see who had announced their arrival. Anissa being there surprised her. "Oh, hi, Anissa. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was already here spending time with Kasey when Gill showed up, carrying Molly home. He said that she got intoxicated at the Bar, so he had to take her home. I thought I'd stay a little longer to help Kasey with her since he seemed to not know what to do."

"Molly…drunk? But she always gave Kasey so much grief for drinking. Where is she?"

"She's asleep in her bed. I guess Kasey will just spend tonight on the couch because there is no way I'm strong enough to carry him to his room."

"He'll be fine there." Angela sighed. "I was actually hoping he would be awake so that I could tell him something… Hey, just out of curiosity, how did he react when Gill carried Molly here?"

"Well, he became furious and was very close to breathing fire. He came close to hurting Gill for being around Molly, but luckily when I told him to stop, he did."

Angela raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, you must be a big influence on him if you managed to stop him in his tracks like that."

Anissa's face became red from the embarrassment. "Oh, w-well, it was nothing! I must be getting home. My parents must be getting worried. Good night, Angela!" she said as if she were in a hurry to leave.

* * *

**** So, everyone can already tell who Molly is going to end up with, right? Well, like I said earlier, whoever doesn't end up with her in this story will have their own story! I've already started developing the story's outline, but I want to know who you'd prefer the main character be - Molly or Angela? The story will be set in Castanet Island (Animal Parade setting) either way, so that made me feel a little uncertain about choosing Angela, but I know a lot people like Angela, so I can live with that! :D  
I personally like Molly more because I just simply love the name; and plus, after writing this story, it's become hard for me to imagine Angela with anyone other than Luke! :P**  
**But anyways, if you plan to read the new story, be sure to give me your input on which character you would prefer! ****


	19. Forgiveness is Blissful  Part 2

**** Told you it wouldn't be long to wait for this chapter! I hope you like it! :) ****

* * *

Chapter 19

The next morning, Kasey woke up to the smell of freshly made pancakes. With his mouth watering, he followed the scent into the kitchen and saw Angela preparing a huge breakfast. By viewing the ingredients on the green counters, it was safe to say that she was making a feast for breakfast – pancakes, sausage, bacon, muffins, eggs, toast, and a bowl of fresh fruit.

"W-What's all this?" he asked, his eyes like dinner plates.

She smiled mischievously. "I was just in the mood to cook, that's all."

"You don't say…"

"Hey, can you wake up Molly? I don't want this food to go to waste."

Kasey did. He didn't know how hung over she would feel, so he first tried by simply tapping her lightly on the shoulder. "Hey, are you awake?"

"No…" Molly groaned.

Kasey snickered. "C'mon. Angela made a huge breakfast for us!"

She pulled the covers over her head. "Cool, not hungry."

Kasey pulled the covers easily off of the bed and left Molly shivering. "Who said you had a choice?" He scooped her out of her bed and carried her into the kitchen over his shoulder while she whined and flailed her arms around as if it would stop or slow him down. Once in the kitchen area, he set her down at the kitchen table.

She gave him a death glare. "I hate you."

"Love you too!"

It took Angela no more than three minutes to finish up every thing she was planning to cook and set it all on the kitchen table.

"Oh, wow… This looks good," Molly said, reaching for a piece of extra crispy bacon.

"I'm surprised you don't have a raging hangover," Angela said.

She shrugged. "I have a headache, if that counts."

"A headache," Kasey repeated with a grunt. "Lucky."

Angela played with her fingers underneath the table and stared down at her empty plate while the other two devoured their pile of food.

"So, uh, I had an…interesting night yesterday," she began nervously.

"Ha! Didn't we all?" Kasey said.

"What'd you do last night?" Molly asked her after giving Kasey another dirty look.

_This __is __it__… __I'm __going __to __tell __him._"W-Well, I went to Garmon Mines and –"

" – Garmon Mines?" Molly interrupted. "Why'd you go there? I thought Julius' shop was closed on Thursdays. Actually, aren't all the shops over there closed on Thursdays? Why the heck would you go there when every thing is closed?"

"I...I went to the mines by myself and almost fell through a pitfall trap…"

"What? Are you okay?" Molly and Kasey both asked worriedly.

"Y-Yes, I'm okay. Luke…saved me…"

Kasey started coughing profusely, for he was choking on a bite of pancakes he was eating. Angela gasped and started patting his back. Molly handed him his glass of orange juice. Kasey's coughing calmed down and he spat out, "What?"

Angela gulped. "I-I-I was about to fall through the hole when I grabbed on to the ledge, and he p-pulled me out. I was lucky he was there, otherwise I could be really hurt right now…"

"Hmm, well, the jerk earned brownie points from me!" Molly said gleefully. "I'm so glad you're safe, Angie!"

"Goddess, what are the odds that both of you run into one of those guys?" Kasey said, frustrated and losing his temper.

Angela shrunk in her chair. "That's not all that happened," she mumbled.

He looked at her incredulously. "What are you talking about?"

"I…I…" Angela stalled.

"You what?" Kasey asked anxiously.

"I forgave him of everything, and we're back together!" Angela blurted out in a squeak. It felt so much better to tell Kasey, like a heavy load had been lifted off her shoulders.

Kasey's face turned blood red. "YOU WHAT? ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR MIND? OF COURSE YOU CAN'T BE WITH THAT GUY AGAIN!"

"Kasey, calm down," Molly said. "You aren't in control of our lives, ya know!"

"NO, BUT I CAN MAKE SURE YOU DON'T MAKE STUPID DECISIONS!"

"Luke is not a stupid mistake!" Angela shouted. She felt an urge to cry, but she tried hard not to. She didn't want to appear weak. "I love him!" Feeling tears wanting to come out, she ran out of the house and kept running.

Molly stood up from the table. "Nice job, idiot," she said coldly. "You're sure to win the 'Best Older Brother' award now."

With that said, she followed her sister's trail. It was easy to track her down. All she had to do was follow Angela's footprints and listen for the sound of sobs. It led Molly in front of the Carpentry where she saw Angela crushing Luke at the doorway and keeping her face against his shoulder. Her body was trembling.

Luke had no idea what was going on. All he did was answer the door, and then Angela threw herself on him and burst into tears. It was so unexpected, but he tried to go with it by holding her close and letting her cry on his shoulder.

"Kasey…wouldn't listen…" Angela said in between her hiccuped sobs.

"It'll be okay," Luke said. "Just, please, stop crying…"

"Please…" Molly said quietly, but loud enough for Angela to hear and look at her in surprise. Watching Angela cry her eyes out was breaking Molly's heart, and she couldn't stand it. "D-Don't listen to Kasey. He's just being an idiot…"

Angela smiled from underneath her tears and bolted into her sister's arms. "I-I don't want to fight with him. You and Kasey are the only family I have!"

"…What about Mom and Dad?"

Angela shook her head viciously. "If they really are our parents, then they wouldn't have sent us here and never talk to us again! I hate them! It's horrible to hate your parents, but I hate them! I hate them!"

Molly's body began to shake and her eyes told a story of abandonment and denial that was finally being resolved into family and honesty to herself and others. Hearing Angela say those words – it was as if she was looking through a mirror image of herself. She couldn't understand how the two people that made them, fed them, raised them, didn't love them. It didn't make sense to her and made her want to make up excuses for her parents, like she always did, but now she couldn't think of anything in defense for them. She didn't want to believe it, but she hated her parents too.

"Listen, Luke," Molly commanded. "I can tell Angela loves you very much. Why else would she argue and defend you like she did this morning? She is such a gentle person that she will only fight for something that she absolutely cares about. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that she cares about you, so I'm pretty sure Kasey can see it too. I think he's just afraid that we'll be hurt again, so naturally he doesn't want Angela and I to have anything to do with you, Chase, and Gill. I can see where he's coming from though because I love Angela too, and I don't want to see her being hurt again…"

"Molly…" Angela whispered, touched by her sister's words.

Molly sighed. "But…the difference between me and my brother is that I can tell you won't hurt her again, Luke. No, not intentionally. So…I want you two to keep seeing each other. I'll deal with Kasey."

Luke and Angela could've been mistaken as two people who were given a gift from the Harvest Goddess herself just by the expression on their faces. Angela squealed and ran back to Luke, who had his arms already out and ready. He twirled her around as they both giggled and laughed blissfully.

"What about you, Molly?" Angela asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you going to make-up with Chase and Gill? You should!"

"Oh…"

She hadn't thought of that. She knew that she missed them both terribly, so much that she was willing to forgive them without needing an apology. Normally, she would want an apology before even considering making up with them, but this was different. She wouldn't be able to bear not being around them. She loved them both too much to let go of them.

So, she walked slowly to Flute Fields and then to Chase's house. She hesitated when she knocked on his front door.

Chase opened the door and gasped. "M-Molly!"

Molly wanted to say something serious and sincere, but it came out as a nervously laugh. "H-Hey, Chase!"

"You… You haven't talked to me in weeks! Have you been waiting for an explanation? Because I really want to explain everything, and then maybe every thing could go back to when you didn't hate my guts! I mean, if you don't want to talk to me anymore - "

Molly stopped him by putting a finger to his mouth. She giggled. "You're more nervous than I am!"

"Sh-Shut up! I-I'm n-not n-n-nervous!"

Molly giggled more when she recognized his stammers – he was lying. "Well, that's good because you don't have to explain anything!"

Chase looked at her with suspicion. She was letting him off too easy; there had to be a catch. "No explanation? Okay, then I should apologize…"

"No! I forgive you, Chase!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Are you positive? You're not pulling a trick on me, are you?"

She leered at him. "Do you want to be friends again, or not? 'Cause I can just leave now!"

"Wait, no, I want to be friends again! It's just that you're being so cool about this. You're not even making me say sorry, or torturing me with guilt…"

"Hmph! Can't I forgive a friend out of the blue without being questioned? Geez!" She stomped her foot.

Chase laughed. "Okay, okay, I won't question you anymore! But do you still want to hear my apology? You'll like it."

She giggled. "Okay, let's hear it!"

He brought his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat obnoxiously. "I'm sorry," he simply and flatly said.

Molly waited a moment, thinking he wasn't finished. When he didn't say anything else, her face went blank. "…That's it?"

"Yep."

"Nothing dramatic or touchy-feely?"

"Ha! When have I ever been 'touchy-feely'?"

She smirked and punched him in the arm. "Oh, yeah, that's right! I forgot that you're an asshole!"

Chase chuckled casually. "Whoa, not shy on the language today, are you?"

"Psssh, please! I've been calling you and Gill that for the past few weeks now!"

"Really, now? I'd love to hear what vulgar and violent things you've said."

Molly ended up talking with Chase for hours about things like cooking and about how drunk she was the night before. Chase really got a kick from talking about the latter. The topic of how Molly thought their "dating" was a prank also came up, and Molly apologized very abruptly and excessively. Chase told her to relax and forgave her quickly, much like how Molly did about his involvement with the bet. The both of them just wanted to forget about every thing and start over on a blank slate.

"So… I was wondering…" Molly ventured.

"Spill it," Chase said.

"Why did you agree to be part of that bet in the first place? I promise, I won't get mad or hit you, or anything! I just wanted to know…"

"Hmm…" Chase leaned back in his chair and thought back on that day in the Inn. "I guess, it was 'cause they said I wouldn't be able to do it, I mean, kiss one of you. Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably why all of us joined in that bet. It started off as us talking about you and your sister on your first day of school, and then it just turned into us telling each other we would scare you both or, in my case, bore you with my talk of cooking. By the way, I didn't bore you, did I?"

Molly giggled and shook her head. "No, you didn't. If anything, I'm glad you three did it for that reason. At first, I thought you three did it because you were being creepy perverts or just being inconsiderate, immature jerks."

Chase's face became crimson. "DO I LOOK LIKE A CREEPY PERVERT TO YOU?"

"Calm yourself," she said coolly and composed. "I thought that when I was still mad at you. Did you really think I'd think of something nice about you while I'm mad?"

"That would be nice, but I know that won't happen because you're not nice at all when you're mad."

Molly smiled as if she were proud of this. "At least I'm nice when I'm happy!" Chase raised an eyebrow and didn't say anything, hoping Molly would catch the hint. "Hey!" she growled. "That's not funny! I'm a sweetheart!"

Chase chuckled. "I was only kidding! You're not so bad when you're happy."

She rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks." She saw Chase's amused smirk and couldn't help but smile. "I'm so glad we're friends again."

"Me too."

Molly eventually had to go back to the farm and left Chase's house. She really enjoyed her time with him after not being with him for so long. It was so refreshing and made her feel so happy that she decided to make up with him.

On her way out of Flute Fields, she heard her name being called from behind. She turned around. It was Anissa running after her.

Molly smiled and waved. "Hi, Anissa! Is something wrong?"

Anissa panted from the running. "No… Gill asked me to tell you something…last night, but I…couldn't tell you last night because…you fell asleep after he…took you home."

Molly became embarrassed when she remembered what had happened while Gill tried to take her home. Crying, vomiting, feeling his sweater vest… She must've had A LOT to drink. But, she didn't remember Anissa being there the night before. Probably because, like Anissa said, she fell asleep so quickly.

"What did he say?" Molly asked.

Anissa straightened herself up and caught her breath. "He said that there was a piano lesson on Sunday. Truthfully, I didn't know what he was talking about when he said that because it seemed so irrelevant, but I thought maybe you knew."

"Oh, he's been giving me private piano lessons. Don't think it was a secret coded message or anything!"

"Oh, that's generous of him to give you lessons. Hmm, he seemed hesitant when he asked, like he couldn't decide on whether he wanted me to tell you or not."

Molly shrugged. "Before last night, we hadn't spoken in a few weeks to each other. Maybe he thought that I was only talking to him last night because I was drunk."

She smiled. "So, you're saying that you were talking to Gill last night, not because of the alcohol, but because you wanted to?"

"I-I didn't say that!"

Anissa laughed and waved her finger. "I think you did! You know, I'm not trying to be nosy or in other people's business, but I think Gill really cares about you. He had this look on his face last night that said it all."

Molly flushed. "Th-That can't be right… Gill is always annoyed by me."

Anissa wore a confident face. "No, I'm sure of it. That boy really does care about you deeply. And by the look of that blush, I'd say you care about him too."

"I…He's…"

"I apologize for embarrassing you like that, but I couldn't help expressing my suspicions. Well, I must be getting back to work! I'll talk to you some other time, and remember, piano lesson on Sunday at noon!" Anissa rushed back to Marimba Farm, waving happily as she ran back.

Molly was still embarrassed by what she said and kept debating on whether she wanted to see Gill after that. Maybe he wasn't ready to speak to her properly, so he chose Sunday to prepare himself. Or maybe he only chose Sunday because they always practiced on Sundays when Town Hall was closed, and Gill didn't have to work. Should she make up with him now like she did with Chase or wait until Sunday for whatever he had planned on Sunday.

Were they just going to have a lesson like always or was that when he was planning to apologize to her? No, she remembers him saying that he was sorry when she was drunk. Why would he apologize again? But, Molly doubted that Gill would just suddenly decide to have a piano lesson after what had been going on. What if he wanted to talk about what happened when she was drunk? What if he wasn't going to do any of those things? What if something totally unexpected was going to happen?

Molly shook her head to get all of the questions off her mind. She was becoming an anxious wreck just thinking about what was going to happen. She couldn't see Gill now that she was so flustered. She couldn't even figure out why she was making such a big deal out of something so small and dumb!

"_I__ need__ to__ stop __worrying. __I'm __going __to __be __a __wrinkled __old __woman__ by __tomorrow__ at __this __rate! __I __need __to __stop __this. __Nothing __unsuspecting __or __weird __will __happen__… __It's __just __going __to __be __Gill __and __I__ having __a__ regular __piano__ lesson!__ No __big __deal! __Okay, __waiting __two __lousy __days __to __see __and __make __up__ with __Gill __won't __be __that __bad__… __There's __no __rush, __none__ at __all!_" Molly told herself.

After impatiently waiting until Sunday at noon, Molly set course for the school. She couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen there and began to scold herself for her weird behaviors.

"_Stop__ being __nervous, __Molly!_" she told herself. "_Nothing's __going __to __happen. __Just __go __with __the__ flow__… __We're__ going__ to__ make __up,__ maybe __play __piano, __and __then __every thing __will __be __back __to __normal. __Easy!_"

Molly approached the school door and tried the doorknob. It was unlocked, so she assumed that Gill was already inside waiting for her. She could hear an aggressive, unpleasant sound as she walked in the halls, and it would only become louder as she became closer to the music room. She peeked into the doorway and saw Gill sitting at the piano, his elbows on the keys and his face in his hands. She felt as if she were intruding, so she approached the piano very quietly and shyly.

"A-Are you okay?" she asked.

Gill looked up, surprised. "Molly, you're here! I thought that maybe you didn't get my message or that you weren't going to come at all!"

"Well, I'm here, but really, are you okay? You're face is red. Do you have a fever?" she asked, reaching her hand out to feel his forehead, but Gill resisted.

"I-I'm fine, really," he said. "I was just frustrated earlier…"

"Why? What is there to be frustrated about?"

Gill didn't look at her. He only looked down at the piano's black and white keys when he spoke. "Molly… I want to take the time to say that I'm really sorry about everything. I – "

" – Oh, that's okay! I've already forgiven you!" Molly said proudly.

Gill blinked. "W-What did you say?"

"You're off the hook, you don't have to say sorry! I don't even want an apology anymore!"

Gill immediately pressed his hand on her forehead. "I think you're the one that's sick," he said worriedly.

She pouted and slapped his hand away. "Sheesh! What is up with you and Chase questioning me about this? Is it so hard to believe that I'd forgive you without a sorry? Why don't you just take it and not argue? Besides, you already said you're sorry when I was drunk!"

"Y-You remember what happened that night? I assumed you would forget every thing the morning after…"

"Nope, I remember every thing. All I got in the morning was a headache. Is this the only reason you brought me here? To apologize? Because I'm serious, you don't have to."

"N-No… That wasn't the only reason I asked you to come here…" he said sheepishly.

Molly growled in frustration. "Ugh, why are you being so weird? Do you still feel guilty? STOP FEELING GUILTY!"

Gill winced and looked further away from her. "Sorry…" he muttered.

Molly thought it was strange that he was being so nervous and quiet, and her constant attacks of insistence probably weren't helping either.

She sighed. "Sorry, I'm overreacting," she said much more gently. "So, what was the other reason you brought me here?"

"I…I wanted to play something for you," he admitted.

_That's why? He brought me here just so he could play something on piano for me?_

Molly thought it was a bit unnecessary for him to call her here only just so that he could play one thing for her, but she had to smile slightly when she heard that. She loved it when he played piano. He always seemed much more relaxed and not grouchy when he played during their piano lessons.

"Okay," she said and sat by him in front of the piano. "Do I know it?"

He smirked. "I doubt it."

With that, he started playing, manipulating the piano keys into playing their notes together in an energetic and cheerful, yet gentle and touching, melody.

Molly closed her eyes to listen. The melody dug into her. She couldn't explain it, but she felt that the melody made an unexpected connection with her soul in a way that was indescribable. It made her smile even wider and brighter. Then, the melody stopped singing and she opened her eyes, a bit disappointed that it was over.

Gill had an accomplished smile on his face when he was finished. "Did you like it?"

"Are you kidding me? I loved it!" Molly beamed.

Gill blushed a deep scarlet. "I'm glad you liked it."

"It's so weird… It sounded so familiar, but I swear I've never heard it before," she said in awe. "What is it called?"

Gill hesitated. "Molly…"

She tilted her head. "Yes? What is it?"

He shook his head and laughed under his breath. "No, that's the name of the piece."

"It's called 'Molly'?"

"Yes."

"Wow, what a coincidence! Maybe that's why I felt so connected to it! Who is it by?"

"…Me."

"Y-Y-You mean, you wrote a piano piece and named it after…after me?" she stuttered, feeling her face heat up and a strange, but warm, feeling in her stomach emerge.

"No, I wrote it for you. I thought you would like it…" he said, his blush deepening.

Molly couldn't smile any bigger than how she did right then. "Gill," she whispered. "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever given me. You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to because…I like you a lot."

She giggled. "I like you too, Gill! I'm really happy we're friends!"

Gill shook his head and looked straight into her brown eyes so that she could read his face. "N-No! I didn't mean that…"

She furrowed her eyebrows and leaned slightly closer. "I don't understand what you're saying. You're saying you don't like me, then?"

His eyes became wide in panic. She was getting the wrong idea. "Ahh, n-no! What I meant was…was..."

Then, he couldn't find the words that he wanted to say. Nervousness was getting the best of him and locked the words inside him. It was so frustrating for him to not be able to say what he wanted to say; it had never happened to him before in his life. He decided to act on instinct and let action speak for the words.

He cupped both of his hands on Molly's cheeks and closed his eyes when he leaned forward to press his lips against her's.

Molly's eyes became wide in shock. Out of all of the things to happen when meeting him there on Sunday, she wasn't anywhere close to guessing that Gill would kiss her, or that her heart would race like this, or that she would actually like it.

He released her and wanted to keep his face close to her's, like there was a magnet implanted into both of their lips, but he wanted to get far enough back to see what her reaction was.

She was silent while she touched her lips with her fingers. "You… You k-kissed me," was all she could say.

He gulped. "Yeah," he said in a tone of wonder and realization, as if he was just finding out what he had done.

Molly felt an irresistible urge in her gut that she couldn't ignore and sighed exasperatedly when she decided to give in to it. She leaned forward and followed where the magnet in her lips wanted to go: Gill. Her lips pressed on his, making this Gill's turn to be shocked.

Molly could feel his lips start to smile. She gave into another irresistible urge and wrapped her arms around his neck to make him come closer. She had never felt a feeling so warm like this in her life and didn't want to stop feeling it.

Gill began to pull back, and when she felt it, she tried hard to keep him from doing it, but Gill finally separated from her and began to pant.

"What, did you not want me breath?" he laughed, but he stopped laughing when he took a second look at her face. "You're…crying?"

"Huh?" Molly said in bewilderment. She felt under her eyes and, sure enough, found enough evidence to prove that he was right. "Oh, Goddess," she said, wiping them away. "That's embarrassing," she said with a laugh.

He helped her wipe the trespassing tears away from her face. "Why are you crying?" he asked with a mixture of amusement and concern.

She laughed again. "I have no idea!"

Her laugh was contagious and made him laugh along with her.

He had never been this happy around anyone in his life.

* * *

**** Thank you for reading, everyone! Those that review say such nice things and I'm very grateful! Reading them never fails to put a smile on my face. :) I love every last one of you! ****

**UPDATE: Something to know about the piece Gill played for Molly: when writing this, I imagined him playing something very similar to _Maybe _by Yiruma. I always listen to this piece when writing something about Molly because it reminds me so much of her. - So, that was something to help you imagine the scene better.  
**


	20. Trust

**** Hello! This story is, sadly, close to the end! I'm predicting that the next chapter will be the final chapter of this story! I think I'm going to cry... D; ****

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Chapter 20

Luke sighed exasperatedly. "He's still moping around over you," he said to Luna, while sitting outside of Bo's bedroom door with Angela.

Luna, who was sitting in a chair because she refused to sit on the floor where Luke's "dirty boots" had stepped on, apprehensively picking her cuticles, ruining her manicure. She moaned in hopelessness.

Angela eyed the red door in sympathy as if she were looking at the depressed Bo. She got up and knocked on the door. "Bo?" she said in a light, gentle tone. "Bo, it's me, Angela. Can I come in?"

She waited a moment before Bo cracked the door open and took a peek, showing his morbid face, but as soon as he caught sight of pink hair, he retreated, making Luna hang her head in shame.

Luke rolled his eyes. He then abruptly grabbed Luna by the wrist with his right hand and opened Bo's door with the other. Then, as quickly as he could, he pushed Luna in the room. He slammed the door shut and held onto the doorknob so that she couldn't get out.

"LUKE, OPEN THIS DOOR!" Bo yelled from the other side, banging on the door and trying to turn the doorknob.

"Hurry, grab that chair!" Luke said to Angela.

Angela took it and stuck it under the knob. "Are you sure this will work?" she asked him in doubt.

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. I just did it so that he'll get mad and not be a drag."

"It sure worked…" she said, listening to Bo continue to holler and bang on the door, though it was gradually becoming quieter.

"Luke!" Dale called. He came into the room with his blue eyebrows glued together. "Where's that horrible girlish scream coming from?"

"HEY!" Bo bellowed.

Dale glanced down at the chair and snickered. "Did you lock Bo in there?"

"Yep," Luke and Angela said in unison.

Dale had to hold his sides while his laughter boomed in the room. "You kids are great. If you need me, I'll be at the front counter." He raised his hands to create a funnel around his mouth. "See you at dinner, Bo!" Dale left the room, still laughing.

"I love your dad," Angela said with a giggle.

"He loves you too! He even worries about you sometimes."

"He does?" she asked, touched.

Luke rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. He thinks I annoy you! Can you believe that?"

"YOU ANNOY ME!" Bo yelled aggressively.

"I don't think I've ever seen him angry before," Angela said.

"Eh," Luke said, "This is Bo here. He can't stay mad for more than ten minutes; he'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Angela? Luke?" a softer voice said from inside Bo's room. It was Luna. "C-Can you please let me out? It smells very awkward in here…"

Angela considered it briefly, but Luke could tell what she was thinking and shook his head. "They need to sort this out on their own," he said.

Angela sighed. Luke had a valid point. "Right… Sorry, Luna."

"Hey, do you want to go to town for lunch?"

She lit up. "Sure!" She stopped. "Oh, wait, I can't right now. I have to take care of Brownie first."

"No problem! I can go with you!"

Her lips curved upwards. "You want to help me?"

Luke put on the goofy grin that made Angela involuntarily smile brightly. "Sure! I've never milked a cow before!"

And then, they went. When they got there, they were surprised to see Gill standing in front of the house with a horrified expression. It didn't seem to make sense until they saw Molly chasing Kasey around the farm property with her sickle.

"Get back here!" she screamed.

"No!" Kasey replied. You could tell by his voice that he was getting tired.

"I just want to talk to you!"

"Bullshit!"

"She… She looks like a serial killer…" Gill said, the color disappearing from his face.

"I'm scared," Luke said, hiding behind Angela.

"It's okay," Angela reassured them as she rubbed her temples. "She's just a little irritated."

Luke and Gill stared at the scene with bug eyes. _That's__ a __major __understatement._

"Gill, how did this all start?" Angela asked him.

"I'm not sure. She told me to meet her here around this time, and when I got here, they were already arguing about something. I couldn't hear what it was about because I was too far away. Then, he saw me and started yelling, 'I told you to stay away from my sister!' Then, Molly started chasing him around with her scythe."

"Why would she tell you to meet her here? Is she your girlfriend?" Luke teased. Gill blushed and didn't reply. When he didn't, Angela and Luke both looked at each other. Luke had to hold in the snickers he wanted so much to let out. "So, you're going out with the serial killer there?"

Gill's blush deepened, and he growled. "Shut up, Luke."

Luke burst into a hysteric laugh, and Angela made a giddy smile and clapped her hands.

Angela gasped and practically got in Gill's face. "Don't be embarrassed! You and Molly are boyfriend and girlfriend now?" Angela asked excitedly.

Gill flinched from surprise. This whole time, he thought Angela was a quiet, shy girl, but Luke must've been an influence on her. "I-I… We didn't officially say it, but I think so."

Angela crushed him. "Yay! I knew you two had a thing the moment I saw you in the Clinic with her!" She let go of him and gasped. "I've gotta stop her from killing Kasey so that I can congratulate her! I'll be back! Molly!" She ran off, flailing her arms around and calling Molly's name.

Luke wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, man! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time."

"Idiot," Gill muttered.

"Hey, so I guess when I marry Angela, and you marry Molly, we'll be like brothers!"

Gill looked up to the sky, trying to talk to the Harvest King himself. "Am I in Hell? What did I ever do to you?"

Luke laughed and slapped him on the back. "Relax! I'll be the best dang uncle your kids will ever have!"

Gill hit him in the back of the head. "In your dreams!"

"What are you two talking about?" Molly asked as she, Angela, and Kasey walked over to them, her hand gripping the back of his shirt in case he tried to attack.

"Nothing," Gill said ruefully. "Just, don't worry about it… Was there a reason why you told me to come here?"

"Yeah." She turned to Angela. "And this'll interest you too. I've been trying to convince Kasey to let us date those two, even though I was going to do it anyway, but he's being extremely stubborn."

"Those two are trouble," Kasey snarled.

Angela stepped forward. "Kasey, you have to trust us," she said, disappointment and sorrow rolling off her tongue.

Kasey winced faintly and turned his head to avoid looking at their faces. "I do trust you… I just don't trust them."

"We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't trust them," Molly added, sticking her face in front of his.

"You're killing me here…" he said, showing signs of giving in.

"Please…" Angela said, squeezing Luke's hand.

Kasey looked down at their hands intertwined with each other and up to Angela's pleading face, and he felt himself softening up inside like mush. His sisters really liked these two boys. Kasey wasn't sure why, but they did, and he could tell that they made them happy, a kind of happy that he never saw on them when they all lived together at their parent's home.

"Molly, let go of my shirt," he said calmly.

She approved his tone of voice and did what he said. "Well?"

He looked at them hard. "Everybody gets a second chance, right?"

Angela and Molly's eyes lit up. "Really?" they asked together. He nodded and then found himself on the ground because of how hard they tackled him. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" they said to him.

Kasey smirked, stood up, and walked back to the farmhouse. "That doesn't mean I'm not going to keep an eye on them!" he said over his shoulder before going inside.

"Yay! I get to be with my Gilly!" Molly cheered childishly and hugged Gill around his neck.

"Stop calling me that!" Gill demanded, though Molly didn't take it seriously, as usual.

Luke pumped his fist in the air. "Woo! We should celebrate!" he suggested loudly.

"Let's out to eat!" Angela said. "But not until I take care of Brownie first!"

"Yeah! I get to milk a cow, and Gill's paying!"

"You can pay for your own damn food!" Gill snapped.

"Man, you're so mean!" Luke nudged Molly with his elbow. "Good luck with that one."

* * *

Kasey laid on the living room couch, staring up at the ceiling, thinking. _I__ let __them__ off __too __easy. __I __shouldn't __have __done __that! __What __if __they __do __something __else __to __them?__ But __Molly __and __Angie __seemed __so __sure__…__and __I __trust __them__…_

A knocking on the door broke his train of thought and compelled him to answer. Much to his surprise, it was Anissa with a fresh blackberry pie in her hands.

"Umm, a pie?" Kasey questioned, half laughing.

"I baked it! I remembered you saying that you like it the other day, so I baked it for us to share!" she said.

"Well, since you have pie, you can come in."

Anissa giggled and served them a piece of pie at the table. She ate her piece, humming in delight with every piece. She glanced in the corner of her eye and saw Kasey twirling his fork in the sweet confection, staring out in space.

"Is every thing okay?" she asked.

Kasey snapped out of his daze and shook his head. "Just a little distracted, I suppose."

"I hope I'm not prying," she started politely, "but may I ask what is distracting you?"

Anissa's concern and interest in his worries left him feeling significant subconsciously. "I let Molly and Angela date those two boys," he said.

"You've forgiven them at last? That's good, isn't it?"

"I didn't forgive them," he said, his voice lowering.

"Then why did you -"

"I did it because they looked so happy with them, because I don't want to fight about it with them anymore. I don't want them to hate me… But I still don't trust those guys. If they hurt them again, it's going to be my fault for not being consistent…"

Anissa smiled gently and held his free hand. "It's great that you care so much about them, but they're growing up. You can't always watch over them and decide what is best for them. All you can do at this point is trust that what they're doing what is for the best."

"It's a lot easier said than done."

She scanned his tension and found it to be something that should be admired. It was easy for her smile to become wider, but yet, still gentle and soft. "You're going to make a great father some day," she said without thinking.

Kasey blushed and did so even more when he remembered that she was still holding his hand. He pulled his hand away considerately and awkwardly stood up. "I-I don't understand why you waste your time with me. I've told you about all the bad stuff I've done before coming here. And you're so pure and polite… I don't get it. I'm not a nice person for you to be around…"

Kasey thought she would consider to rethink why she was there, talking to him, sitting in his house, sharing a pie she baked for them, but her eyes told no regret.

"Well," she said, standing up with him, "do you do any of that stuff now?"

"Well, no, but - "

"Then you're a good person for me to be around!"

He couldn't believe it. How could someone have so much faith in him? How could someone be so forgiving that they hand out a blank slate for him to keep?

"You're unbelievable. You're so understanding and smart and nurturing and…beautiful…"

"Oh, I-I don't know about that!"

He chuckled. "I forgot that you're modest too. I'm telling you, Anissa, someday, you're going to make a great wife."

Anissa's heartbeat skipped. It was so apparent to her that she thought Kasey might have noticed, so she tried a laugh to play it off. "I-I think you meant to say 'Mother' because I said you would make a great father earlier…"

He nonchalantly shook his head. "No, I meant wife."

Now, it was Anissa's turn to blush profusely.

* * *

"Arrgghh! I don't know what to get!" Luke complained with his head buried in the menu. "Boiled spinach and vegetable curry… This is too hard!"

"They're both disgusting, so just pick one!" Gill snapped.

"Your face is disgusting!"

Angela held her hands in between the two boys. "Please, let's not fight right now…"

"He started it!" Luke said.

Angela sighed uneasily. "Molly?" she said, searching for support.

"I think it's kinda funny how they fight like cats and dogs. It'll probably get even better once school starts up again."

"Oh, right, school is only a few days away now," Gill recalled.

"Bummer," Luke muttered.

"So, Luke, Gill, about that bet," Molly said with an amused smirk on her lips. "Chase technically won, am I right?"

"Yeah, so?" the both said.

"And the deal was that the losers have to wear Julius' clothes for a week, right?" she asked, showing no mercy.

They both gulped. "Y-Yes…"

Angela and Molly shared a mischievous grin.

* * *

**** ATTENTION CHASE FANS! I'm extremely excited to announce that I will publish the promised Chase fic tomorrow morning, my one year anniversary of joining Fanfiction ! (7/19/11)**** I thought that seemed to be a great day to post a new story! :D  
So, if you're interested in that, go ahead and check it out. It will be called Freedom is the Dream.**

**Thank you for reading for everyone and thank you once again for the reviews! :) ****


	21. A New Chapter in Life

**** Sorry for such a long wait for this chapter. You probably hate me so much for making this the last chapter AND making you wait so long for it too! Haha! :P  
I was being very indecisive about how I wanted to end this. Plus, this will be my very first COMPLETED chapter story, so it was really sad when I realized that it has come to an end, so that made me a little reluctant to finish it. xD  
ANYWAYS, I hope you like this chapter! ****

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Chapter 21

Julius clapped his hands together in accomplishment. "Magnificent! I believe this is my best work yet!"

Luke fidgeted in his desk and picked at the fabric on his thigh. "Pants ain't meant to be this tight!"

"Or pink!" Gill grumbled.

Molly and Angela giggled. "We think you look cute!" they said.

"Very…cute!" Chase tried to say as he held on to his sides; he was getting cramps from laughing so hard.

It was the anticipated first day of school. Luke and Gill only had three more days of wearing Julius' flamboyant clothes, and, much to their despair, they had to wear them to school with classmates snickering over their shoulders.

Julius chuckled his obnoxious laugh and wrapped an arm around Angela's shoulders. "Angelina, darling, you've got to let me dress your fashion monstrosity of a boyfriend every day from now on! I can even make him throw away that atrocious bandana of his! He had to do a lot of kissing up for me to let him wear it today!"

"No! Don't do it, Ang!" Luke cried tearfully.

Angela smiled up at her friend. "Sorry, Julius, but I can't imagine my Luke without his bandana." She reached over for Luke's bare hand. "It feels weird not feeling your gloves when I hold your hand… I kind of miss it…" she said with her eyes looking longingly at their intertwined hands. A smile spread across her red dusted cheeks.

Luke touched the flame bandana on his head, and his face burned to a dark crimson color.

"That is just precious!" Julius squealed. He turned around and made a tunnel with his hands towards the blue haired girl in the corner by herself reading her book. "Candace, darling," he called to her, "you must see this cuteness!"

Candace's mouth moved up and down, but her words couldn't be heard from where she was at on the other side of the classroom.

Julius put his hands on his hips. "I can't hear a word outta you," he said in annoyance as he made his way to her.

"This is so exciting. We're seniors now! Gill, Chase, do you have math with me next period?" Molly asked. They both shrugged and handed her their schedule in sync. "Oh! Gill, you have me next period, and Chase, you have me in science after lunch."

"What do I have next period?" Chase asked.

"English."

"Looks like you have Candace and I in your next class," Angela said.

The bell sounded from the ceiling intercom, telling the students of Harmonica High to switch classes.

Molly and Gill walked together to math class. Molly began to grin giddily and break out in tiny giggle fits as they sat next to each other.

"Today, class," Cain, their math teacher for the second time, said, "I know it's the first day, so I'm passing out a sheet of extremely easy algebraic equations to solve."

The class groaned lowly, except for Gill, who didn't much care, and Molly, who was too happy to remember that she hated math.

"Oh, come, now," Cain said in response. "School has started! This is an easy A for your first grade."

Gill glanced over at Molly in midst of finishing his worksheet. She didn't have a single problem solved on her worksheet and was instead laying her head on her desk, sneaking childish peeks at Gill. She was in even more of a silly, happy mood than normal. "What are you giggling about?"

"We're in math class…together!"

"So?"

She giggled again. "This is how we met!"

She was right. Gill thought back on the first time they talked to each other and then gazed at her while she radiantly smiled at him, making his always-tense muscles relax. He couldn't believe that he used to call her an idiot all that time ago. It seemed like ages ago.

Gill smiled fondly. "You're right."

She hugged his arm and rubbed her cheek against his white sleeve. "You're so cute when you actually smile!" Gill looked away, and Molly knew exactly why. "Are you blushing?"

"N-No!"

"Hey, your face matches your pants now!" she teased.

"You're exaggerating!"

She smiled at his embarrassment. She decided to stop picking on the poor guy and start on her neglected schoolwork.

Gill cleared his throat and muttered, "By the way…"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out to eat with me tonight, if you want," he asked shyly.

She looked up from her work. "Sure!" she accepted gladly. "Are you taking a day off from work? It's unlike you. What happened to working like a maniac to be mayor?"

He smirked. "Who said I wasn't working to be mayor anymore? I just thought that one day wouldn't hurt. Besides, Father is overjoyed that I'm taking the day off to take you to dinner. He absolutely adores you."

"I suppose I wouldn't doubt that. I remember, the first time I met him, he wouldn't stop talking about you and about how handsome and polite you were and shoving it in my face that you were single." Molly looked back down at her worksheet and sighed. "Okay, no more talking. I need to work," she said in the best serious voice she could muster.

"Am I distracting you?"

"Yes, and if you try to talk to me again, I'll just pretend I don't know who you are," she said as she started on the first problem.

He raised an eyebrow. "I can't be that much of a distraction."

She glanced up and looked straight into his blue eyes with a sweet smile. "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

"You know who I am."

She tapped her finger to her chin in imaginary thought. "No, I don't believe I do. Perhaps if I knew your name, then maybe I could remember."

Gill felt a corner of his mouth twitch upwards. "You know what my name is."

"Hmm, is it Steven? Or maybe John… Brandon?" she said, trying not to break character.

He narrowed his eyes. "You think you're so funny."

She grinned playfully. "I don't know what you're talking about, Brandon."

He chuckled. "Shouldn't you be working?"

Her face fell and she darted her eyes to her paper with a gasp. "You distracted me!"

* * *

Chase sat in class, his arms making a cushion as he laid his head on them. Angela was seated in the desk next to his and Candace close by. He never really sat down and talked with Angela, but he didn't mind her sitting next to him on account of her being Molly's sister, and he liked the fact that Angela was much more quiet and not as troublesome, though he could really use someone more lively to cure his boredom in class.

Angela bit her bottom lip in hesitation. She had something on her mind that was bugging her, but she didn't know exactly how to ask Chase without making him feel like she was prying into someone's business.

"Chase? Can I ask you something…about Molly?" she finally said.

He curved his eyes to her. "Um, yeah, sure. What is it?"

"Well, you and her were dating before the Ocean Festival, right?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I wouldn't call it that since she didn't even think we were. She thought we were pulling a prank on everyone. Remember?"

Angela fell silent for a moment. "Well…aren't you mad that she thought that? If you thought you two were actually dating, then you must've liked her at some point. So, do you not like her anymore? It's just that you seem very unresponsive about all this…"

"Eh, I'm not mad at her. I know how incredibly naïve she is when it comes to relationships – that's just who she is. So, I see how she thought we were pulling a prank on everyone."

"But do you still like her? I mean, do you wish you two were actually dating?"

Chase's mouth fell slightly, and his eyelids lowered as his eyes did when they gazed down to the edge of his desk. "I don't know how to give a straight answer for that. I instantly got along with Molly, unlike other people I interact with… I thought I liked her like that when I asked her to festivals and stuff, but when I really think back on it, things I did before to get romantically close to her felt a little off. Now that the bet is over and we're better friends… I don't know… It just feels better, natural…"

Angela nodded slowly. "It might not be any of my business, and I may be wrong, but I think you may have been subconsciously forcing yourself to think of her romantically. And sometimes when your mind does something like that, it means you're running away from other things, kind of like how Molly did with our parents. She would always tell herself that they would never abandon us when it's clear as day that they did. She would always make excuses as to why they never come here to visit or why they don't call. She would drill in her own mind that they still love us, but I could tell that somewhere inside of her, she knew that that wasn't true, and she was only trying to convince herself to run from the truth…"

Chase quietly listened, not rejecting, but not accepting the theories Angela proposed about him. Normally, he would feel provoked if someone he hardly knew made such deep, personal accusations about him, but he wasn't offended or angered at all. He only took in the words she said and considered the possibility of them. _Running __away __from__ other __things..._

"I'm sorry," Angela said when Chase kept quiet. "That was very presumptuous of me. Forget I said any thing!"

"Angela, why are you asking me this stuff? Did Molly say something about me?" Chase reluctantly asked.

"She did last night. She mentioned that you and her have become better friends since the time you both made up and that the bet actually brought all of us together. Then…I thought about the Ocean Festival and then about how you two were 'dating' back then… It made me concerned about whether you were upset or not."

"Why would you be concerned about how I feel?" he asked cynically.

Angela smiled and said sincerely, "Because you're Molly's best friend. Any friend of Molly's is a friend of mine, and I care about my friends."

He smirked. "Molly was right - you are considerate."

Angela flushed. "She talks about me?"

He nodded. "It's obvious that she cares a lot about you by the way she talks about you sometimes. It almost makes me wish I had a sibling to know what she's talking about."

Suddenly, the bell rang for lunchtime, and everyone took a cue and stood from their seats to leave class.

"I guess we should meet everyone at the old lunch table," Angela said.

"Hey...thanks," Chase said, not very sure himself what he was thanking her for.

Angela blinked. She didn't feel like she was any help to him at all. "Thanks for what?" she inquired.

"Just…thanks," he simply said and left the classroom for lunch, leaving Angela without an answer.

* * *

Luke stared at Angela, eating his boiled spinach while Angela stared back, bringing a spoonful of yogurt to her mouth. "How can you eat that stuff?" they both said.

"They are so cute!" Molly whispered to Gill and Chase.

"They are something," Gill halfheartedly commented.

Chase didn't answer, for he wasn't paying attention at all. He was too busy poking the unacceptable food on his tray with a plastic fork after the first bite. "Are the cooks here idiots?" he grumbled.

"Oh, Chase!" a high-pitched voice called

"Crap…" Chase muttered.

Its source came up to Chase's side and licked her lips. She pulled her spoon out and stole a taste of his food. "Aww, poo! Your lunch is icky today too!"

"Did you only come here to steal my lunch, Maya?"

"Well, I'm not going to steal it now! Whoever made this lunch needs some serious help!" she declared.

"At least you two can agree on something, Chase," Molly encouraged.

"Yay! We have something in common!" Maya cheered and crushed Chase with a hug. She then abruptly gasped and released him to grab both of his cheeks in her hands to examine his face. "Is the bruise still there?" she mumbled out load to herself.

"You're still freaking out about that? It's been weeks since that happened!"

"But I still want to make sure my Chase is okay!"

A smile began to grow more and more on Angela's face the longer she continued to watch. She smiled at them the way a mother would smile at her young son when he says that girls are yucky and have cooties.

"You two are so cute together," Angela said.

Everyone at the table turned their heads to look at her.

"Really?" Maya and Chase both asked, though their expressions were much different from each other's. Maya's face lit up, but Chase narrowed his violet eyes at Angela, making her motherly smile grow upwards even more.

"Now that you mention it, they do look pretty cute!" Molly giggled. "I wonder why I didn't see it before!"

Maya's light blue eyes gleamed in excitement and turned back to Chase, her hands still holding his face. "Did you hear that? Now you can't say it's improbable for us to be together!" Then, she let out a small, quick gasp and started placing her hands on other regions of Chase's face. "Oh, no, you're burning up, Chase! Do you have a fever? You should've told me!" she frantically said. "Luna has an ice pack for her lunch. I'll be right back!"

Chase groaned as soon as she left for her table and laid his forehead against the table. "Do you realize what you've just done?"

"Chase, you didn't tell us you're sick," Molly said.

"Because he's not sick," Gill said knowingly.

Chase lifted his head just enough to give him a death glare. Luke burst into laughter and Angela giggled softly at the flustered Chase.

"I don't get it…" Molly said innocently.

"I'm back!" Maya announced with an ice pack in hand. She pressed it on his cheek and switched it to the other parts of his face whenever he would swat her hands away. "Hold still!"

* * *

Angela, Luke, Bo, and Chase walked together after school. Luke and Bo questioned why Molly wasn't walking with them, but Angela and Chase informed them that she was spending after school with Gill. It wasn't long before Luke began teasing Chase about his "fever".

"Luke, I will murder you," Chase threatened with a venomous bite. They came upon the crossroad that separated the paths, and Chase took the one for Flute Fields.

"Make sure you call Maya to take care of that fever!" Luke laughed. Angela punched his arm. "What did I do?" he asked like a child.

"You know what you did," Angela said.

Luke rubbed his arm. "Your punches are getting stronger…"

"By the way, Angela," Bo said, "the boss wants to know if you wanna eat dinner at our place tonight."

"Sure! Just let me stop by the farm real quick and let Kasey know," she said.

When they did arrive at the farm, Luke and Bo waited outside while Angela went inside the farmhouse. It was uncomfortably quiet in the house. She called Kasey's name to hear some sort of sound in the house.

"In here…" she heard.

She followed the voice and found Kasey sitting on the ground in her and Molly's room beside Molly's bed with his burly hands on top of his head as if he had a migraine.

"Kasey?" she said hesitantly and quietly just in case he did in fact have a migraine. "I wanted to stop by and tell you I'm eating dinner with Luke's family, and Molly is with Gill at Ocarina Inn… Is something wrong? What are you doing in our room?"

"I wanted to do something nice for you guys and surprise you with a clean room." Angela looked around and noticed that their room did look cleaner than before, making his story plausible. "When I was cleaning out from under your bed, I found this…" He showed her a wooden box that was labeled "Kasey's Savings". "How long have you been saving this money?" he asked.

"A little after you moved in with us. You said you were staying here until you gather enough money to support yourself once you leave, so we thought we'd help you out a little."

Kasey looked up at his sister with saddened eyes. "There's enough to pay for a semester of college and last me until I find a job in the city…"

"Do you not like it? We thought you would be happy."

"No, you don't understand how much this means to me. This is just what I need to start my life over in the city…"

Angela sat down beside him and gazed at his still saddened eyes. "Then, why are you upset?"

Kasey paused to make sure what he was saying was right and clear. "I don't think…I want to leave…"

Angela's brown eyes widened, and her jaw loosed a little, for her mouth to drop slightly. "But…you said before that you want to go back to college."

"Yeah, to make something with my life, but I've already got it pretty good here. I'm working here for a good amount of money, it's nice and quiet here, I get live near you two again, and also Anissa…" he trailed off.

"Anissa?" Angela inquired with interest.

Kasey blushed lightly. "Well, I was hoping…me and her…"

Angela smiled when he understood what he meant. "You want to stay on the island?" He nodded. "You know what we can do?" Angela said.

"What?"

"We can use that money to build you your own house on the farm," she proposed. "We have plenty enough property to do it, and I'm sure there's enough money to get it done."

He didn't speak for a while to let the idea sink in. "I'm going to have my own house," he said, seeing what it would feel like to say it.

"You're getting your own house."

Kasey nodded slowly and smiled at the spontaneous decision. "Didn't you say before that you were going to Luke's?"

"Oh, yeah, I did. There's still some leftovers in the fridge you can eat."

"Okay. Don't stay out too late or I'll hunt you down. Be back before dark!"

Angela walked out the front door and saw Luke and Bo kicking the dirt below them as they waited for her.

"Hey, what took so long?" Bo asked.

"Guys," Angela said, "I have a project for you."

Angela told them about her and Kasey's sudden plan and then told Dale about it during dinner. Dale was quite excited about it since he hadn't built a house from the ground up since he built the farmhouse.

"Let me help you," Angela said to Dale, carrying the dishes to the sink.

"No, no, I've got it under control," he said with his booming laughing. "Why don't ya hang out here a little longer, and make sure Luke doesn't get into any trouble? He's easier to handle when you're around."

"Whatever! I'm an angel!" Luke retorted from the dinner table.

Angela laughed. "Well, okay. Are you sure you don't want me to help, though? I can get Luke to help too."

"Yeah!" Luke pumped a fist over excitedly. "Let's wash them dishes!"

"You're not washin' any dishes tonight, boy!" Dale said. "Whenever you try washin' dishes, you break 'em!"

"They break themselves 'cause they can't handle my awesome dish washing skills!"

Angela saw Dale sigh and reacted by squeezing Luke's hand. "Actually, let's not wash dishes. Let's go walking outside," she said with a sweet smile that Luke couldn't turn down.

They walked down the dead end path in Garmon Mines, listening to the evening crickets sing their melodies.

"Today has been so great," Angela said. "It's made me think about how glad I am that I moved here. I didn't think my life would change so much. I can't imagine ever leaving this…"

Luke grinned her favorite grin. "I don't know what I'd do if you didn't come here. Having a life without meeting you sounds so sad. I hate thinking about it."

Angela felt the butterflies in her stomach go crazy when she realized that he just said exactly what was on her mind. She stopped walking and wrapped her arms around his neck, making him stop in place. "I love you, Luke."

"I love you too." They gazed at the orange glow the sunset gave their skin and looked out to it.

"Goddess, look at that!" Luke pointed in awe.

Angela looked at it rather sadly. "Kasey said I have to be back before dark…"

Eventually, Luke walked her home. Parting each other at her front door surprised them when it proved to be difficult for them. They said "Bye", but they never looked away from each other's mesmerizing eyes. It was like a witch put them under a spell that they both loved being subjects to. It wasn't until Kasey opened the front door, observed them questioningly for a few minutes, and called Angela's name that she could tear her eyes away from his.

"What?" she said, as if coming out of a trance.

"It's getting late," Kasey said. "You two have been staring at each other even before I came out here. Come inside, Ang."

Angela looked back at Luke, but avoided looking into his gold eyes, afraid of falling for the spell again. "Goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight," Luke said back just as unwillingly as Angela was.

We waited until she followed Kasey inside the house before stalking back up the path to Garmon Mines. He took his time getting home; he wanted to stay out and watch the sunset, so he sat on the edge of a pier by a pond fairly close to the farm.

The only thing that could make the scenery would be if Angela was there watching with him, so he did the next best thing: replay her soft voice in his head.

"_I__ love __you, __Luke,_" he replayed in his head as he glanced down at the water. His reflection had a smile across its face the more Luke thought of Angela.

"Luke!"

Luke almost laughed. _That __one __almost __sounded __real__…_

"Luke!" it repeated.

_It's like it's getting louder…_

"Luke!"

_And coming from behind me?_

Luke turned around and saw Angela running to him fast. He sprung to his feet. "Ang?"

Angela tried to halt herself when Luke saw her, but couldn't stop quick enough due to the inertia and ran right into him, causing them both to fall into the pond. She came up to the surface and coughed, looking at Luke hold the most confused look he had ever had in his life.

"Ang! What the heck are you doing here? I thought you went inside earlier!"

Angela panted to catch her breath from the running while kicking her feet to stay above the water's surface. "I…I needed a few…more minutes with you before I…go to bed."

Luke felt a laugh creeping up on him. He didn't know what he found funny about that, but acted on the urge to laugh. "You did that just for a few minutes?"

Angela found his laugh contagious and began to mix her panting with laughter. "Yeah, I guess I did."

And then, they just laughed. When their unexplainable, hysterical laughter dyed down, Angela caught sight of the orange glow that still lingered.

"I guess we do get to watch the sunset together tonight," she said and leaned in to plant her small lips on his. They felt like they were specifically designed for her and only her. The thought made her smile in pleasure while she kissed him.

This is why she would never want to leave the island: she wouldn't be able to do this with Luke. What would life be like if she couldn't be able to talk to him, hug him, laugh with him, kiss him? It would be dull, not worth living. She loved his laugh, his happy-go-lucky aura that always lifted her spirits, his live-life-to-the-fullest attitude that made life exciting, the piney wood scent he seemed to always have no matter what he did that day, and his goofy grin that promised to make her heart skip a beat or two.

She couldn't think of any thing she would rather do than be with Luke, someone that could easily make her smile in a way that no one else could ever make her smile with just a simple, yet exhilarating grin.

* * *

**** Soooo, I have a bit of an announcement for you guys... I am seriously thinking about a SEQUEL for this story, which might explain why I left a few things open in this story! So, what I want to know from you guys is what you would like to see in this sequel. (I haven't planned much of anything for this sequel.) Overload me with ideas, guys! The more creative they are, the more I love you... Just kidding. I love you already. xD  
I honestly have no idea when this will be released, but the sequel will come much faster if I get more ideas to inspire me. And it doesn't have to be story ideas. You can also suggest me to pay more attention to something in the story that I seemed to neglect in this story to make the sequel better. Heck, I'll even accept title names for it since I don't have any idea what I want it to be called. I keep updates on my profile, so you can visit that every once in a while to see what I'm up to with my writing. (If you've already read my updates before, you already know about this sequel :P)**

**While waiting for the sequel, you can check out my other stories and a new story that I will be publishing within a few days. (It's an Ouran High School Host Club fanfic, FYI)  
**

**I'm very thankful to have such complimentary readers/reviewers. As of right now that I am typing this, this story has 94 reviews and I'm suspecting it to reach 100 after this chapter. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! When I started this story, I didn't expect to get so many faithful readers. This was a huge surprise! You guys made this even more fun to write. (Woow... Longest author's note EVER! o.O)  
**

**I hope you continue to read what I write! Thanks again for reading! :) ****


	22. Authors' Note!

**(12/21/11)**

**** Hello, my wonderful readers!**

**I have some great news for you guys! I have an official date of when I'm going to start posting chapters for the new sequel!**  
**WOOOO! :D **  
**The first chapter will be posted on January 12, 2012 in the afternoon! I know that might be a long time to wait (21 days to be exact, I think...), but I want to make sure I have enough time between now and when it becomes published to write as many chapters as I can right now, so that when I go back to school, updates won't be so slow. The other reason for that specific date is because it'd the one year anniversary of when I published The Harmonica High Bet! I thought it would be cool to do that. :)**

**ALSO...I am still having trouble thinking of a title for the sequel. I always have trouble thinking of titles. It's a curse... _ **  
**I have thought of some, but they sound so lame to me, and I REALLY don't want to just slop some meaningless title I randomly think of in less than 30 seconds. I want it to be somewhat decent.**  
**So, if you guys don't mind, I would like to ask you guys to place a vote on a poll I recently made on my profile. It would DEFINITELY help me decide on a title and see what you guys like. The voting choices are of the best titles I could think of (which weren't very creative, unfortunately). **  
**There's also an "Other" option, which you would PM me a title you would like to suggest. Since you're reading this on this story, if want to just leave suggestions in a review to save time, that's fine too. Whatever way of giving me an idea is fine with me. :)**

**ALSO...I have updated all of the previous chapters to this story. By that, I mostly mean correct spelling, grammar, typos, etc. Nothing changed to the storyline, or anything like that. I did this because, reading back, I found so many errors, and now that my writing has somewhat improved since then, I'd like to correct it. Hopefully I didn't miss anything I meant to correct.**  
**Besides correcting that stuff, I may have added an update to the Authors' Notes to like 1 or 2 chapters (I know one ,for sure, is when Gill is playing piano for Molly). All I put in it were a few things I forgot to mention when I first posted them. So, it's nothing too important. Just things that would have been nice to know when reading it.  
**

**As for the sequel's storyline...I will tell you guys (if you didn't already know) that it starts out when the characters graduate high school. So, the story will take place after high school, when their out in the world being adults. I just thought I'd let you guys have a little sneak peek. If you still have story ideas you'd like to see in the sequel, it's definitely not too late to tell me! Again, you can leave them in a PM or review on this Authors' Note. Either way is fine. **  
**For those that did leave me ideas: thank you! I'm happy to say that I will be using most (if not all! :D) of the story ideas you guys left me. So, thank you! They really helped me think of other ideas for the sequel.**

**I believe that's all I have to say. Hopefully I didn't forget anything. If you read this entire thing without skimming, you're amazing, and I have the highest level of respect for you because that up there looks really really long and boring to read. xD**

**Anyways, thanks again for supporting this story. I'll see you in the sequel! :D **  
**

**~RainbowsNSmiles5**


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